by Riley Wootten, junior editor
FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Officials, administration and teachers are enforcing a new phone policy for the current school year, where students are instructed to silence their phones and place them in a lockbox slip with an assigned number upon arrival to each class.
Teachers are in charge of making sure students put their phones in the box and then lock the box. The phone boxes are not to be left unattended without a teacher’s supervision.
Oral communication and AP language and composition teacher Erin Hendricks can already see an improvement in students’ social skills when phones are locked up.
“As an Oral Communication teacher, I’ve seen that oftentimes kids focus on their phones instead of having social conversations with friends and classmates, so they don’t feel confident speaking aloud,” Hendricks said.
The phone policy is enforced to not only increase students’ academic studies but their social skills as well. Students are allowed to have their phones while switching classes and during lunch but while phones are put away it is designed as a time for students to engage with each other and focus on assigned schoolwork.
“When students aren’t distracted by their phones, they are engaging with friends and getting to know people they otherwise wouldn’t. I’m already seeing a more relaxed group of kids this year,” Hendricks said.
According to Principal Jon Cardwell, the phone policy will benefit students academically because students were so distracted by phones with constant notifications and teachers were distracted by the interruptions.
“So far, we are seeing more and more quality instruction and more engagement in the classrooms already. It’s going to bring peace to the kids for at least 50 minutes per class,” Cardwell said.
If a student disobeys the phone policy, “or does not lock up their phone,” their first offense includes one day of out of school suspension; if caught a second time, a student will receive three days out of school suspension; the third offense will receive five days out of school suspension and the fourth offense will require students to have a five day out of school suspension with a referral for expulsion.
