School administrators and teachers in Needham recently reported cell phones are less of a distraction during the school day than in previous years.
“The policy in grade K-8 is that there’s no need to bring phones to school,” said Superintendent Dan Gutekanst. “If they bring their phone to school in grades 6-8, it needs to be stored away in their coat, backpack or cubby.”
The high school is a different story. As they enter a classroom, students must now put their phones into a “phone hotel.” “Some kids call it phone jail,” said Gutekanst.
The phone hotels, which look like a shoe bag but smaller, hang near the door of each classroom. Students are expected to leave their phones in their assigned slots for the duration of class.
“On the first day of school I was really disappointed because, like all teenagers, I’m in love with my phone,” said Annabelle Markowitz, a junior at Needham High School.
But a month into the school year, Markowitz said there’s been so much work that she’s forgotten about her phone in the phone hotel. “It’s kind of slipped my mind that I’m doing it.”
“There’s a little grumbling from high school students,” said Gutekanst. “But they’ve also told me that they know this is a good thing to do. It allows for a little more focus and less distraction.”
NHS principal Aaron Sicotte said it was important to introduce the phone hotels at the beginning of the school year. “When you have a new policy, you either start it on the first day of school, or you don’t do it well.
“When they’re all in the holders, their friends are much less likely to send a text that will distract them,” Sicotte said. “If it’s in your backpack and you hear it buzz, you might reach in to find out what’s happening, and then you’re not paying attention in class anymore.”
Sicotte has seen a reduction in the number of kids in the hallway during class. “They’re less likely to meet friends because they don’t have phones to coordinate meetups.”
Pollard Principal Tamatha Bibbo said she has also seen improvements this year.
“For all students the expectation is that the phone is in a backpack from the bell to the bell, from 7:45-2:20,” she said. During that time, Bibbo said she does not see phones. “If students have to make a call during the day, they come to the office and use a school phone. We often teach them how to dial a number and how to leave a message.”
On a tour of the building’s hallways and classrooms, not a single student had a phone out. In Priya Purushotham’s French class, as students were packing their bags just before the final bell of the day rang, no phones were in sight. Purushotham said she has not seen a student phone yet this year.
“A year ago cell phones were the bane of my existence,” said eighth grade history teacher Steve Mock. Now, he said, student phones are not a concern.
Mock wasn’t sure about the reasons behind this positive development, but he said, “One reason might be that a year after COVID, teachers are more willing to crack down. Just after COVID, we treated them with kid gloves.”
“I think there’s more of an awareness of student use and overuse of cell phones,” said Bibbo, pointing to Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation” as part of society’s focus on the negative impacts of cell phones among young people. Gutekanst also cited Haidt in his blog. “Haidt believes that cell phones in the hands of children and adolescents has invited an epidemic of depression, sleep deprivation, and cyber bullying that did not exist before the technology became prevalent,” Gutekanst wrote.
Both Bibbo and Gutekanst said some parents have requested harsher policies such as a total ban or locking the phones away all day. Bibbo said many schools in other districts have opted to purchase Yondr pouches at $30 per student that lock phones in an individual case during the school day. She pointed out rules like that encourage students to put old phones or burner phones in the pouch. “I would rather teach them how to use their phones correctly. It’s rude to look at a phone while someone is teaching or talking.”
“In the end, we’re educators,” said Sicotte. “We want to educate students about how to interact with the technology appropriately. The outcome we want is for students to learn ways to use these powerful technologies in ways that support them and that don’t negatively impact their mental health or well being.”
Gutekanst reported some issues with elementary students using iWatches, which can be used for internet, texting and making phone calls, in past years, but said that has not occurred this academic year.
Bibbo has asked staff to keep their phones out of sight as well. “Be mindful that kids are always watching, and they’re aware of hypocrisy.”
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