The Kansas State Board of Education established the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Student Screen Time during its July 2024 meeting. The task force made recommendations to Kansas districts on how to help student’s phone behavior.
This influenced 501 to create a cell phone policy slightly different from what the Blue Ribbon Task Force recommends.
“Cellular telephones and other ECDs [electronic communication devices] must remain off and out of sight in classrooms and not used during instructional time.” said the district policy regarding cell phones. “However, at the high schools, students are permitted to use cellular phones and other ECDs during the lunch period and passing periods.”
This policy created negative opinions about the effectiveness of it.
“I think it’s ridiculous; kids are still going to be on their phones whether you tell them to or not,” said sophomore Jenna Stearns
All the staff could do was tell students to turn off their cell phones and put them away, which made people believe the policy had a good purpose but was implemented poorly.
“I think it was made with the right intentions but it isn’t having the desired results,” said Senior Dejanique Neal. “With cell phones being so engraved in our lives for years, simply telling us to stay off of them is pointless.”
Not only do students believe this, but teachers do as well.
“It’s been a giant struggle because the students are being asked to quit an addiction ‘cold-turkey,’” said weights teacher Jason Filbeck
Students tend to put their phones away when told to but get them back out soon afterwards. Some do it sneakier and others don’t bother to hide it.
“It would be great if the students would follow it,” said math teacher Mark Palmer “They put the phone away for a minute then pull it back out as soon as our backs turned.”
Not only do many students ignore the policy, but those who do follow it can have additional issues.
“I sometimes miss my parent’s phone calls or messages then I get into trouble,” said sophomore Juliss Reyes
Another issue that people experienced were accommodations that require their phones.
“I have ADHD and having my phone helps me be able to focus on my work,” said Senior Alli Wathen. “I listen to music or play games on the side because I can’t just do my class work or it won’t get done.”
Some students find it annoying constantly hearing staff tell them or others to stay off their cell phones.
“I get my work done in school just fine without the policy and it’s annoying to hear ‘put your phone away’ from the teachers all the time,” said sophomore Kattlynn Burgen. “At this point, teachers complaining about phones are more of a distraction to my learning than phones are.”
Most students seem to not care, but a few said that it helped them.
“I’ve tried harder to lessen my screen time after school when I can choose to be on my phone,” said Senior Addie Tanking. “I think it’s made me a lot more mindful of others, more proactive ways to spend my time.”
People have different opinions on how the phone policy can be more effective. One of them was what the Blue Ribbon Task Force recommends.
“I would require students to keep phones secured in a locker between 7:55 am and 3:00 pm, except for lunch,” said teacher Kenya Patzer. “I would also require teachers to keep their phones in their desks or out of sight.”
Others have a unique opinion, which includes confiscating cell phones.
“I component making repeated offenders require a parent to come into the office to retrieve it would be interesting,” said history teacher Sam Schumann “I know other schools that do it on the 3rd infraction.”
The policy can have positive effects on the students during and outside of class, but enforcing it seems impossible. The students seem to be unaware of the benefits of the policy and, therefore, ignore it.
With all this information, we can conclude that students need to be educated on the effects of phones and how the policy can help them.