The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has recently announced a new policy that phones will be prohibited from use, including lunch times and passing periods. This policy will be taken into full effect on January 1, 2025, after winter break.
“This guidance will ensure K-12 Virginia students have a distraction-free environment to focus on learning and reduce the alarming mental health crisis and chronic health conditions from cell phones and social media affecting Virginia students,” the Department stated.
Some schools had already implemented the bell-to-bell phone policy as experimental groups, to see how education and focus in schools would improve if phones were not in access at all, such as Thoreau Middle school, Edison Middle school, Madison High school, Westfield High school, McLean high school, and Robinson secondary school. These schools are using the Yondr phone pouch, a pouch that can only be opened with a magnet.
There has been no specific way the VDOE has stated the phones have to be stored, whether it be by using the Yondr phone pouches, in backpacks, storage containers, or any other way the phone could be put away.
“Initially, I was very skeptical of the phone policy because in many classes there are some cases where teachers allow kids to use their phones for different assignments, especially in many elective classes,” Sophomore Katie Bagley says. “I think having just a phone pouch during class and allowing students to look at their phones once the bell rings would be better than locking them away all day.”
“This might be controversial, but I think the phone policy, it’s good in some ways, and bad in other ways,” Sophomore Erica Ocansey begins. “When we have our phones away for the whole class, I feel like it gives an opportunity for people to focus on their work and not be distracted by their phones, but I also feel like the consequences for having your phone are a bit much and it discourages people from wanting to follow the policy, rather than just putting them away.”
Bagley also believes that during lunch, students should be allowed to have their phones because it is one of the only times we get a break from learning and can look at our phones.
Ocansey has similar opinions, stating that “it’s pretty much our only break during the day, you can just unwind before our next class, it discourages the only break of the day we have.”
Students are also alarmed about potential harm that could be caused because of the new policy.
“I think there would be some harm or danger, especially if a student needs to contact their parents and they want to quickly text them or something, quickly call them for a quick response,” leading to the controversy that sometimes phones are needed to contact parents, not only in case of emergency, but in plans regarding rides to and from school, staying after, and the basic need and comfort of a parent knowing about their child and their plans.
South Lakes is one of the schools that will continue with the previous phone policy: phones away during instructional time, but allowed in hallways and lunch periods. However, if the phone policy isn’t followed, South Lakes may switch to the phone pouches.
