Students and staff at Bloomington High School agree the new cell phone policy is limiting distractions in the classroom.
BHS joined other District 87 schools in banning phones in the classroom throughout class, even as a reward for good behavior. Previously, BHS teachers were allowed to create their own rules for their own classrooms, leading to inconsistent enforcement and underwhelming results in curbing the problem of distractions caused by phone use among students.
“I think it takes a lot of the weight off of the individual teachers and allows them to do what they need to do, which is teach,” said Emily Waddell, assistant principal.
The situation is slightly different for underclassmen than it is for upperclassmen. Seniors, for example, never dealt with a similar policy in their time in District 87 schools. Bloomington Junior High had not implemented its current phone policy until after today’s seniors moved onto BHS. Younger students were more prepared.
“The sophomores grumped and groaned for a bit,” said English teacher Kristen Siemientkowski. “But when they were in middle school, they had implemented a cell phone policy that was pretty similar to this one, so although they groaned, they were able to get in line pretty quickly.”
Student reactions
BHS students said there are some positive and negative aspects of the new policy.
“Our grades have gone up because of this and work has increased, like getting work done and things like that. So I do feel like productivity has increased,” said sophomore KJ King-Warr.
King-Warr said he already seldom brought his phone to school, and when he did he usually still did his work.
“But now I feel like the environment has been better in our school,” he said.
Without the option to use a phone, students said they are talking to their peers more often.
“I've talked to people that I didn't think that I would ever talk to before,” said senior Gabby Casali. “Last year, I would just kind of go on my phone after I had my work done.”
But they still feel it would sometimes be nice to still have the option.
“Because then you can do whatever you want, instead of just sitting there staring at the wall,” said senior Emerson Elbert.
“Last year, if I was having an unproductive day, like, I would literally stay in class on my phone all day,” added Casali.
The policy also took the option to use headphones away.
“I know a lot of my friends who use music as a coping mechanism to get through the day,” said Issaria Jacobs, a junior. “It's difficult for them now, now that they're not allowed to have their headphones or their music.”
Prior policy
Siemientkowski said leaving it to the teachers to implement their own policy did not work well over the four years she worked at BHS under such guidelines.
“I changed it almost every year just because I was trying to find anything that worked,” said Siemientkowski. “It was a lot of throwing a bunch of spaghetti at the fridge and seeing what sticks.”
Her most recent policy entailed an opt-in/opt-out system.
“If you opted in, that meant you couldn't be on your phone, but you could turn in late work. If you opted out, you could be on your phone whenever you want, but you couldn't turn in any late work,” said Siemientkowski.
That led to frustration among parents if students ended up opted-out. Even a student who agreed to put their phone away to allow for late work would lose those privileges if caught with their devices later on.
“Now it's a lot more clear. Parents know what it is, and I don't have to fight with everybody individually,” she said.
Waddell said this was one of the goals of the policy being implemented. When it is no longer left to the teacher, the blame does not fall to them when discipline is handed out.
“My overarching goal was always to support the teachers and let the teachers do what they do best, which is teach,” said Waddell.
“When they do take people's phones, sometimes students get upset,” said Jacobs. “But for the most part, this year, I feel like we've done a good job at giving up our phones peacefully instead of fighting.”
