New Cell Phone Policy Ruffles Athenian Feathers

On April 21, the new phone policy created by “The Phone Taskforce,” a group of Athenian teachers, was officially implemented. There have been positive, negative, and indifferent reactions to this policy as students have adjusted.

The policy outlines phone-free periods, including during class, advisory, and community meetings. During these periods, students must keep their phones silenced and out of sight, or in an area designated by their teacher. A violation of this policy, stated as using a phone during a phone-free period or a phone making an alert, will result in the phone being confiscated for the remainder of the day, and returned at 2:35 pm at the earliest. 

After two violations of this policy, the student's grade dean and advisor are contacted. On the third, their parents are contacted, and there will be a discussion about what the student may do with their phone in the future. 

Finally, the policy will be reviewed in summer and fall 2025, possibly added to the student handbook, and expanded if deemed necessary. 

A problem teachers bring up is that cell phones are simply distracting, and not only take away from your learning, but also your experience with the community and the environment you are in. 

“The issues we identified are that cell phones were causing a lot of distractions. There’s a lot of research around cell phone usage, so just in reading, learning about the impact of cell phones prompted us to focus on our lack of policies,” said Emily Shinkle, Director of Residential Life and Upper School Choral Director. 

The teachers agree that there is a utility to having phones during the day because of changing schedules and classwork. Still, for the most part, they are not necessary during class and other times that require attention and engagement. There will also be possible expansions to the policy. 

“Right now, it’s just advisory, classes, and community meetings. In the future, maybe we will expand it to other times of day. Lunch, maybe the library, but it's difficult to implement. So just to expand it to more places and times,” said French Teacher Seve Morris.

Some students, however, feel as if the new policy may be unnecessarily punitive and restrictive, and question the need for it. 

“Why does it exist?” said Grayson Kearney, a sophomore. “I think that some people have a problem with using their phones during class, but I don’t really think it's such a big issue that your phone should be taken away for the rest of the day for just one time. I think that there’s a lot of discrepancy in the policy that makes it so it could be abused by people, and I don’t like that. I think it needs to be less punishing.” 

“A lot of these teachers already have phone policies. What we wanted was standardization. When some teachers do something, and others don’t, there can be a nice, cool, teacher, because they don’t take away student’s phones, and the other one becomes the mean, jerk teacher because they don’t allow students to use their phones. This created a more universal experience for everybody, so teachers all felt comfortable in implementing it, and enforcing it, and not feeling like it would single them out, one way or another,” said Ninth Grade Dean Mark Lukach.

Some students also raise the issue of student voice and question how the policy was implemented in the first place.

Sophomore Liv De Cicco said, “I really don’t like how Athenian promotes itself to be all about democracy and student voice, when a huge policy, that affects everybody’s daily life, had no input from the students, from what I can tell. All the authors of the document were teachers, and I know that there was a group for students to give their input, but from what I heard, they only met once, and had no influence on the policy or an opportunity to review it.”

Computer science teacher and taskfore member Sawyer Thompson said, “I think there are just certain things, as adults running campus, that we have to set certain rules and set certain expectations, and there are a lot of things we really try to involve the community in, or have student-led efforts, but this is one where it feels like students are too biased. They want their phones. An example I have is, there are a lot of students in my class who say, ‘you can do this policy, but wait until I graduate.’ I think that really showcases how biased students are. In their heart of hearts, a lot of them know this is the right thing to do, but they also really don’t want it to happen. So, as the adults, it’s our responsibility to make something happen.” 

Additionally, students have pointed out that phones may not be the biggest problem impacting students’ concentration and engagement in classes, but rather, computers.

“We spent a lot of time talking about the difference between phones, and laptops, and smartwatches. Everything you can do on your phone, you can do on your computer. You can screen mirror your phone on your computer, right? But, the ease of just taking a phone out is so much different from taking a computer out, and we do think teachers have much more experience monitoring laptop use in class, and it's also pretty darn obvious what someone’s doing on their laptop that’s not connected to their academics. So there is no foolproof way to do it, but obviously we’re not going to ban laptops. But, my hope is that teachers are saying, ‘hey, I do have to pay a little more attention, to how laptops are used as well,’” Mark said. 

Teachers also mention that computers are often necessary in class, whereas phones are rarely needed for an activity. 

Sawyer said, “I think that there’s very frequently a reason for students to have a computer out in class. There’s infrequently a reason for them to have their phone.” 

Another opinion among students is that they should be individually responsible for their phone usage, especially those who are upperclassmen, close to being adults. 

“It’s dumb that students can’t be expected to control themselves. Freshman year, I would always be on my laptop, but then I realized on my own that we pay a lot of money to be here,” said junior Iko Ohad. 

There is also an argument that taking away phones may not adequately prepare students for the future, where people are expected to manage cell phone use independently. 

Piper Sweeney, a senior, said, “If we were a prep school, the whole abstinence and no phones policy won’t benefit us in the future. I understand the distraction of phones in classes, I just don’t understand why teachers can’t just take them at the beginning of class. Which is what they already did and it worked well.” 

The teachers disagree. 

“What is being an adult and what is not being an adult?” asks Seve. 

The idea of what an adult is can be very vague, and it differs legally and developmentally. The teachers say that it is less about age, and about what is expected in a community.

Emily said, “It doesn’t matter how old you are; it’s a community and it’s institutional. It’s one thing if you want to talk about senior privileges, like maybe, second semester. So, in boarding, we allow senior privileges in the second semester and the fourth quarter, and that’s earned. And it could be lost, as well. But I think we can have conversations around that, around age, but as a general idea, it’s like we’re all under the same roof. This is our house, we all have the same goals.” 

“It would be one thing if the seniors had consistently shown that phones were not a distraction to them during these times, and I just don’t think that’s the case,” said Sawyer. 

They also brought up that the policy and norms are not just for the students to follow; they’re for the teachers as well. Teachers are not supposed to use their phones during meetings, and many of them put their phones away in class too, unless they are needed. 

Some students have seen a significant change in their classes, as teachers who have previously never taken away phones now do. And in many classes, students are already expected to put away their phones at the beginning of class. Either way, the phone policy marks a shift in the Athenian community, and students and teachers alike will have to find ways to navigate it as it expands.