Since the original iPhones were made in 2007, they were a hit. Nearly 80% of school teens own phones, according to AP News.
Phones started to get popular all throughout the world. An article on Truth For Teachers says, “Then all of a sudden, 2012… sort of an elbow, and then a very sharp upward rise in 2013.” Since then, phones have developed and become more advanced. With over 1.8 million apps on the Apple App Store, you could download.
Other schools around CT have stricter phone policies. At Ansonia High School, students have to put their phones in a district-issued cell phone pouch. They are not allowed to have their phones in any lessons, and if they are caught with their phone it could lead to a detention.
At The Morgan School cell phones are allowed in class only if you are granted permission by the teacher. If you are not, the phones need to be silent or away in your bag or a phone pocket, as directed by the teacher. If you are caught with your phone in class when it is supposed to be away, that can result in teacher detention and parent contact, written referral, administrative consequences, and possible loss of phone privileges during the school day.
Assistant principal Christopher Luther spoke about support for the school policy. “I like our policy of no pouches or anything like that…do what the teacher says and keep them away,” affirmed Luther.
Although Luther doesn’t believe the school needs pouches yet, he acknowledges, “When I was teaching, I would have maybe 30 kids in my classroom before class started, just hanging out”.
The school administration isn
’t planning on introducing pouches, as other districts have. Luther said that the pouches would be a “board of education decision, involving the superintendent and assistant superintendent.”
Currently, the administration has decided to leave cell phone usage during school hours up to the students, while reserving the right for teachers to determine
How cell phones are used in their classrooms.
In most classrooms here at the school, you will find a cell phone box right when you walk into the classroom, where teachers strongly encourage you to put your cell phone at the beginning of class to minimize any distractions.
The cell phone policy has become more and more strict over the years at Morgan. However, most students don’t mind the stricter cell phone policy because they understand where the teachers are coming from.
Senior Maddy Caruso believes that the cell phone policy hasn’t changed drastically throughout all four years of her high school experience.
Caruso claims that “it’s similar to the cell phone policy from last year; it’s just towards the end of the year, the teachers normally stop caring as much, so I think it just seems stricter than last year.”
She says that a select number of teachers are strict on cell phones throughout the whole year. While other teachers tend to stop caring about them halfway through the year.
Caruso states that “we should have an option between the teacher’s cell phone boxes or our backpacks. With the option of having our cell phones silent in our backpacks, we can learn to regulate ourselves better”.
Caruse believes that if you take away the kids’ phones, they will retaliate and choose not to put them away.
Freshman, Tavis Nicklis, agrees with the phone policy, mentioning that “in certain instances, like free time, or lunch, you can use them, but during a lecture, when you’re supposed to be working, is not the best time to have them out”.
In the end, Tavis believes that the cell phone policy here at Morgan is respectable for most people, since previously, in middle school, they were allowed no phone usage whatsoever.
Overall, most of the students here at Morgan can agree that the cell phone policy is similar to the school’s previous cell phone policy. Just with a stricter start to the year.
