Over the summer, Interlake decided it needed stricter phone policies, and so the administration decided to change the rules to try and make phone problems disappear once and for all. While some of these changes have had a limited effect, a few have made a real impact on Interlake school culture. The real question is: how have these new policies affected our school and was the impact positive?
One notable policy change caused an increase in parent involvement. Previously, if a student was caught on their phone multiple times during class, they would have to turn their phone into the office— something known as a “phone hotel”. It would then be put into a secure place until school was over. However, since this rule caused problems for staff and students alike, the school decided to change the system. Now, parents would pick up the confiscated phone after school rather than leaving the teachers to deal with the logistics of returning it to the student.
While the parent pick-up featured the largest policy change, the school also enforced more minor changes. For example, reducing the number of cell phone strikes/ observations from ten to three. This increased the risk and therefore seriousness of potential phone loss.
To gain more insight about the reaction to these new policies, I reached out to Mr. Villagomez—a teacher here at Interlake who teaches advanced learning and 9th grade Language Arts. When I asked about how the phone rules have affected the classroom vibe, he stated he “can have more positive interactions with students”, and that he no longer must “police [the phones] as much”. In terms of the reduction in number of cell phone observations before a penalty, he noticed that after giving just one observation, he “never sees that phone again.” Overall, Mr. Villagomez thinks that “it’s all a net positive… I feel like my quality of life as a teacher has risen sevenfold” with the new phone rules and that the rules bring “less negative interactions and less work”.
I also sat down with Mr. Cochrun, Interlake’s Principal, to talk about the overall effect of phone policies. To start the conversation, we talked about how the culture of the school has changed. Mr. Cochrun states that students “are engaging more in class and talking to their peers more.”
When providing the thought process behind the policy, Mr. Cochrun expressed that the administration actually didn’t want to be authoritarian with the policy changes. “We wanted this to be an ‘us’ thing, with all of us as a community saying, ‘Hey, there’s a problem here; let’s solve it together.’”
Next, we talked about how parents have reacted to these new rules, especially the changes to the parent pickup system. Cochrun stated that parents were positive at first, saying they were “absolutely in favor” of the new rules. But he also mentioned that some support started to fade when the topic turned to how long phones would be taken away. Most parents “wanted assuredness that in the event of an emergency, students would be able to contact their families.”
Finally, when we discussed the possible long-term impact of the new rules, he said that he hopes students of Interlake will “carry these habits into college and the workforce, or wherever they find themselves.” He ended by saying that other schools, possibly even society will eventually “go back to a simpler phone or have stronger controls” to reduce the overall amount of time spent on phones.
In order to get a better sense of the student body’s response to the new phone policy, I sent out a survey. Most students responded that the rules were strict and didn’t really change their phone habits. Some even admitted they still used their phones when they could. Teachers, on the other hand, thought the rules were helpful and made class time better.
Overall, students gave the rules an average rating of 2.8/5, while teachers rated them much higher. This shows a big difference in how each group perceives the policy. In short, the school’s new phone rules seem to work well for most staff, but students aren’t as convinced.