After coming back from summer break, West Morris Central staff has changed and updated their phone use policy during class time and when leaving class. This has upset the students and faculty.

The old phone use policy was just having the student’s phone kept in the student’s backpack when they left the room. But most students didn’t follow these rules and started meeting up in the bathrooms during class to talk to friends about the latest drama. Also, the school found many phones in the student’s bathrooms, and in order for this to stop the school had to enforce more rules. The school needed to change their phone policy right away before the new school year started.

Many students may still need to contact their parents for something important. They can still do this.

Mrs. Meagher, the assistant principal states, “If students have to make personal calls they can come to the main office, where there is a private section,” and “In order to leave the room, students switch their phone for a hall pass,”.

“As of last year many phones were left in the bathroom, because the students didn’t follow the rules. This new policy will decrease the number of phones left in the bathroom,” Mrs. Meagher claims.

Many teachers have different feelings towards the new cell phone rules.

“I don’t want to be responsible for their phones. I would rather it be in their backpack or on their desk, but I like the idea of not allowing the students to carry their phone to the bathroom or hallway,” Mrs. Kulfan states when asked about her opinion on the new rules.

When we asked Mrs. LoBello an english teacher at WMC, she states a very good point, “The school’s new technology policy is a great way for students to use their phones for educational purposes. It allows students to focus more on what’s happening inside the classroom, instead of what’s happening outside of it,”.

This shows that they had to enforce the rules in order for “maximum learning time”. If the students do not have their phone with them in the halls and the bathroom, they are unable to meet up with their friends and they spend less time outside of the classroom.

We also asked students what they thought about the new cell phone rules and got many different responses.

“If the school makes such a big deal about ‘theft in the locker rooms’ and tells us that we need locks to keep our belongings safe, and they say that the school cannot be accountable for theft… then I should be able to carry my own belongings in the hallways,” Sophie Cavallone argues.

“I do not feel comfortable leaving the room without my cell phone. If there is a lockdown or an emergency situation, I would feel secure having my phone on me so I can easily contact my family” Sofie Montella explains when asked about her feelings towards the new policy. She mentions that she is more comfortable having her cell phone on her in case there are any unexpected emergencies.

Many of the students and teachers have strong feelings towards West Morris Central’s new cell phone policy. In the end the new phone policy will be hard for students to adjust to, but in the end the school is just trying to help and better the education of their students.