By Vilma Roldan Lazo, Conrad Hamel and Lucinda Dorrance
A new school year comes along with a new policy.
Riverside implemented a new cell phone policy at the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
The New Phone Policy states that phones should not be used during instructional times. It bans the use of “electronic devices and accessories,” including phones, earbuds, Bluetooth devices and chargers. The policy also includes a 4 step “Violation Consequence” system designed to discourage the use of phones during class time.
While many teachers approve of the new policy, multiple threats of violence and an unexpected chromebook shortage have made students’ personal devices more necessary for some classroom activities.
“If there was an emergency their parents would not know because the student would not have a phone on them,” said junior Ana Coreas Vargas.
Bed Bugs were found in students’ chromebooks at the start of the school year. Seven weeks later, students still don’t have laptops, and teachers have pivoted back to paper-based learning.
“Without chromebooks I’ve had to print everything out and we’ve gone back 15 or 20 years in the history of teaching. Thankfully I was there and I know how to teach that way,” said social studies teacher David Norman, “It’s doubled the workload for teachers across the board.”
Norman has taught at Riverside since 1993, long before smartphones even existed.
“This is our twentieth phone policy,” he said. “Quite frankly, due to the lack of technology it’s irrelevant. It doesn’t apply in my classes and many teachers’ classes because we don’t have chromebooks.”
Due to the elimination of chromebooks this year, Norman says banning phones disrupts teaching and learning.
“Everything we’ve built in the last couple of years, for me it’s been a decade, requires that we have access to the internet and our interactive activities,” he said, “so anybody and everybody who has a cellphone or another device is using it [in class].”
Despite the early challenges, Riverside’s administration remains committed to limiting the distraction of phones during class.
“Looking at the news and looking at what we have here at Riverside and just across our nation it was necessary to bring back structure focused on teaching and learning,” said Riverside Assistant Principal Mrs. Patterson. “This is the first year of the policy and so we’re just going to look, observe, and assess how it’s working and of course tweaks will come.”
Patterson believes the new phone policy was the best course of action.
“Students are learning these key concepts and ideas,” she said. “They can do well in their classes, pass their classes, get credit, and stay on track.”
Patterson also believes that phones are useful and can contribute to a constructive learning environment.
“First of all, we are not trying to eradicate cell phones, because we know it is a tool,” she said. “I’m actually glad that we’ve taken time to get to know the school and the culture before implementing something that is a huge deal because cell phones are a tool, but they’re also a distraction.”
Teachers are to confiscate the devices and accessories and return them by the end of class. Administrators also have the ability to confiscate devices, but instead of returning them at the end of the period, they have authority to keep the device until the end of the day.
Patterson takes this very seriously as she roams the hallways to see if anyone is violating the policy.
“When I catch students trying to go to the bathroom with their cell phone, I see their pass number, I go back to their classroom and I talk to the teacher,” she said.
Some Riverside teachers are enforcing the new policy more strictly than others.
Math teacher Jordan Nguyen has seen multiple administrations and principal changes over his decade-long career in education. He feels that the Riverside phone policy is nothing new.
“The New phone policy is similar to the old one,” he said. “Red and green phone posters are in each class.”
Nguyen uses a phone caddy for his Math courses throughout the day.
American History and Psychology teacher Gabrielle Minnick is in her 10th year of teaching at Riverside. She enforces the phone policy and has observed a positive impact in her classroom.
“Students have been more engaged and not on their phone as much which I really appreciate,” she said. “I think that shows signs of success in terms of student engagement.”
Minnick said she didn’t enforce previous phone policies as much.
“I have never personally stressed phone usage in the classroom,” she said. “Only when it’s really disruptive do I say anything about the phone.”
She also expressed concern about the chromebook shortage.
“Once computer access is restored to all students it will be a little easier to implement the policy, but until then it will be hard to,”Minnick said.
Students around Riverside also have opinions on the new phone policy.
Junior Shana Gordon said the new policy isn’t strict enough for it to be a real problem and believes the phone policy is not interfering with everyday life.
“I don’t mind the new phone policy,” Gordon said. “If I was doing something where I needed to use my phone, like texting my parents and teachers and someone got mad at me then, I would be more upset.”
“I don’t really mind it,” said senior Maria Mullaney. “In most of my classes I don’t have my phone out anyway. I’m sure some people are unhappy about it.”
Mullaney has not noticed a significant change in other students’ behavior.
“Only my first period teacher has been strictly enforcing the new phone policy,” she said. “Most of my teachers simply assign work so that we won’t be tempted to use our phones.”
