Are we on our phones too much? Is it affecting our grades and our school life? Those questions were answered when students came back from Summer break. Arcata High School’s new phone policy is up and running, and they don’t plan on stopping it anytime soon. This year’s phone policy is a revamping of the previous years but it is more enforced.
“The phone policy was a huge process over the summer, not even just with Arcata High School, but the state and government as well.” Russel Gaskell, Arcata High Spanish teacher stated when asked about where the phone policy came from.
Jeff Mielke, a history teacher at Arcata High said that he believes the phone policy has made him able to teach in a better community. He wants the phone policy to be campus-wide, meaning no phones on campus at all.
Senior Kaylee Maring said the phone policy has a positive effect but also stated that it has been changing for almost all of her classes. “Like for Mielke’s class, I have to put my phone in a cubby thing that’s hanging up on the wall. But some of the rest of my classes just say to put it in my bag.” Maring said when asked how she felt about giving her phone away each class.
But Maring also thinks that in the case of an emergency, she’s not able to contact a parent or guardian. With the recent school shootings, Maring believes that she wouldn’t feel safe if she didn’t have her phone with her. “My mom’s scared that she won’t be able to contact me because I’m in class. Which I feel like in the past years that hasn’t been an issue.”
In the case of an emergency, how are we supposed to try to send help if we are turning our phones into our teachers? How are we supposed to send that last goodbye?
Sophomore Kenzie Wallace also mentions the idea of being unable to contact her parents when she needs to. “I feel like I need to be able to contact my mom during school. Some of the rules of the phone policy have a negative impact. I believe that we as a community need to be on the same train,” Wallace said.
One of the things that Maring also stated was that StudentVue (a website to see most things school-related from your schedule to your grades) is online and that she needs to check her grades. Most teachers at Arcata High ask you to check your grades and see if they made a mistake, but Maring remarked that some teachers will just take her phone after that.
The new phone policy at Arcata High School has sparked mixed perspectives, with some believing it has improved the learning environment while others express concerns about safety and accessibility during emergencies.
