To reduce distractions in the classroom,  this year students must put away their phones before they enter the classroom.

During past school years teachers have grown frustrated with the amount of cellphone use before and during class. 

“It was a grey area last year,” Principal Matthew Durst said. “Students thought it was okay to have it out before class started, but the teachers were concerned. This was a way to make it more black and white. Some students were surprised or angered by the enforcement of the phone policy when it first went into effect. Many students had repeated offenses during the year while they were still getting used to the policy..

Some students said they  could understand the rationale behind the policy.

“I’m aware of the studies cited by the school,” senior Julian Ployhar said. “I feel the school has decent reasoning to enforce the policy. However the new rule is time consuming for teachers to enforce and ineffective considering students need to learn to adapt for their modern workplace later in life.”

For a first offense, the teacher takes the phone and the student may retrieve at the end of the period. For a second offense, teachers must turn in the same phone to the assistant principal Scott Carpenter for the student to pick up at the end of the day.  On the third offense, parents are called to pick up the phone. These rules carry over from last year.

“The parent perspective is that it’s pretty reasonable to put your phone away when you enter the classroom,” Durst said.