Just before the 2022-23 school year began, McCaskey parents were sent an email which outlined new guidelines for cell phone use in the classroom. 

It contained the following paragraph: 

After consulting with our middle and high school principals, we established consistent guidelines for cell phone use among secondary students. Cell phones are to be off and put away during school hours, “out of sight and out of mind.” Charging of cell phones and devices during the school day will not be permitted. School authorities may confiscate cell phones at any time for failure to follow these rules and/or any other violation of school policy. These rules are consistent with School Board Policy 237, which states, “The building administrator or designee may grant approval for possession and use of an electronic device by a student.”

The McCaskey of March 2023 looks very different from the McCaskey imagined by this email, sent in August 2022. 

“I do not believe that, as a school, we should have a blanket policy that students cannot have photos during transitions or in the cafeteria in particular, because I believe so many of us utilize that time to check personal emails, check text messages, or read the newspaper,” said McCaskey High School Principal Justin Reese in an interview on March 22. “So at the high school, in my opinion, we must always, always, always make sure that our areas are wide open during transition or during lunch rooms, or downtime.

“I also really struggle as an educator, telling 215 faculty members that students cannot have their cell phone out in the classroom,” Dr. Reese continued. “I do believe it’s teachers’ prerogative to enforce that within their classrooms. But my fear is that if I, as the leader of the organization, say it must be that way in every classroom, I may be limiting opportunities for students and teachers to work together collaboratively in a way that cell phones can be utilized.”

Teacher approaches to enforcement of this rule are, as expected, varied. 

“Technically, we cannot take phones away from students,” said Kaitlin Moyer, a JP CA teacher. “So I try to redirect.” Ms. Moyer typically calls home if this isn’t effective, and beyond that, uses detention. “Usually that works,” she said. 

JP Art teacher Lisa Wolf is just down the hall from Ms. Moyer. “I have some kids with complete zeros that will not put their phone down,” said Wolf. “And after a call home, then we’re supposed to call the principal to come take the phone, and put it in the main office for the rest of the day. If we actually all followed that, there would be 2,000 kids lined up at the main office at the end of every day to get their phone back.”

While some students welcome stricter phone rules, others say they work better with more lenient rules.

“I’ve never done good with strict rules, because it feels like I’m being controlled, and not like I’m doing it myself,” said Jaida Brown, a McCaskey student.

“I don’t think that I can just come to you and [take your phone],” said Dr. Reese. “I don’t think that’s fair to a student. I think that with young adults it needs to be a conversation. And I would also say that interestingly enough, I think the most engaging lessons I’ve seen all year, that have the highest quality instruction and the highest student engagement – I didn’t see a single phone.”

But it can be hard for teachers who feel like they’re competing with social media apps like TikTok for students’ attention. 

“So what administrators want to say is, ‘plan an engaging lesson, so exciting that no one would even dream of getting their cell phone out,’” said JP Social Studies teacher Gabriel Painton. “And that’s unrealistic because in work and education, there are times where you just have to do hard work….you have to learn how to annotate, you need to learn how to analyze a source, and you can’t make that fun. 

Dr. Reese understands the importance of this focus. While he doesn’t feel comfortable with teachers taking students’ phones from them, he said, “I also know you cannot have your phone out texting your friends or watching Tik Tok while you’re trying to learn calculus. So that’s where I strike the balance…I believe what the board’s original intent was, if it doesn’t disrupt our educational environment, then it’s okay.”

But is cell phone use at McCaskey, currently, disrupting our educational environment? 

“There’s some classes where I’m trying to just get through it, man,” said Wynter Wilson, a 9th grader. “But then sometimes it’s just so easy to start scrolling without realizing it, and then realize I wasn’t listening to the reading, and now I don’t know how to answer the questions. So it’s kind of a trap. But in a class I really like, it’s easy to not want to be on my phone.”

“Most of my teachers don’t like [phones], but they don’t really enforce it. It can be pretty annoying with other students on their phones, because they blast videos pretty loudly, and it takes away my time as well,” said Oscar Richardson, a 10th grade student at McCaskey. 

After being interviewed for this article, Mr. Painton began prohibiting the use of cell phones in his classroom. 

It’s a policy that has so far, from his perspective, been effective. 

“I feel like the kids are paying more attention in class,” he said. “I mean, I’m sure there are kids who are already like, ‘Okay, this is over now, that was cute for a couple days’ and want to pull their phone out, but I’m going to stick with it.”

The impact of cell phones unavoidably goes beyond the classroom. “I feel like there’s certain things when I ask them to do at home, like read, that they’re definitely not doing,” said Painton. “There’s no curiosity,” he added. “Phones have killed it.”

The phone conflict is an issue which is unlikely to go away any time soon. 

“Every single school is dealing with this,” said Ms. Moyer. “It’s not just us, it’s every single high school in America and in other countries, and Covid definitely heightened the issue. So it’s definitely an issue that needs to be resolved. But we’re working through it.”