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Date: 9/6/2022
EASTHAMPTON – As the conversation regarding cell phones in school settings intensifies in Western Massachusetts, Easthampton High School is implementing a new policy that Principal Bill Evans believes can maintain a level of student autonomy while sparking a collaborative approach to understanding the handheld technology’s role in life and education.
The School Committee unanimously approved the change to the high school’s student handbook as presented by Evans during its meeting on Aug. 30, two days before the start of the 2022-2023 academic year.
Much of the language regarding electronic devices remained unchanged, however, the policy now outlines disciplinary measures for unauthorized use. The school will continue to allow the use of electronic devices, including cell phones, in the classroom to complete a lesson as prescribed by a teacher and cannot be visible or on during class times otherwise.
“As many of us understand, last year, during the post-pandemic, post-isolation year, we saw cell phone use increase significantly in the building, as many, many schools did across the country [and] across the world, probably,” Evans said. “What we did is alter some of our procedures in responding to that.”
In a change from last year, if a student is found using a cell phone during class time, they will be required to place the phone in a pouch in a specified area of the classroom until the end of class. Should a student refuse to surrender their phone, they would be subject to a newly devised progressive discipline plan.
“This is a collaborative process between adults and students,” he said. “It can be collaborative or it can be a competition and mostly it’s going to be a decision that’s made by the students. We’re at the high school level, so it’s helpful to give them those choices and to provide them with that autonomy. Really, the primary choice is when they make a mistake of bringing a phone out during an instructional time and are asked to put it in the pouch, do they go ahead and put it in the pouch or do they decide at that time there is going to be a discipline process? And that decision, they get to make that in that moment.”
He continued, “They get some autonomy and some agency there but we’re also saying, ‘There’s structure and there are clear and consistent and predictable consequences for their actions.
For a first offense, a student would receive a verbal warning and a parent or caregiver would be notified. After-school detentions of 30 and 60 minutes, paired with parental notification, would be administered for second and third offenses, respectively. In addition to detention the student and administrators would engage in a “restorative process” in which they would discuss the students’ decision making regarding their cell phone usage, Evans explained.
In the event of subsequent repeat offenses, a conference with parents or caregivers would take place and the students’ cell phone may not be allowed in school or would have to be surrendered to the front office, among other potential supplemental discipline.
“We’re hoping that parents can be our main partners in helping students maintain their cell phone use habits,” he said.
Use of electronic devices will continue be permitted before and after school and during lunch. An addition to the policy also specifies that teachers may allow cell phone breaks during class at their discretion.
Evans added that while it is not explicitly stated in the handbook, the school will offer opportunities for students to self-regulate or seek help in managing their cell phone usage.
Committee Chair Cynthia Kwiecinski and member Laurie Garcia, both educators in area school districts, praised the changes and stressed their beliefs that cell phones can be disruptive to learning. Members Ben Hersey and Megan Harvey also voiced support.
“Some parents love having their kids have their cell phones with them at all times, but I can say as a teacher in the last year where we were not as strict with cell phones because we were trying to do all of the healing with students, cell phones really play havoc with kids’ education,” Kwiecinski said. “I think it is definitely time to put into the handbook some avenues for saying, ‘Enough is enough, put your cell phones way, you’re here for learning.’”
She added for some, the cell phone represents an addiction.
Garcia called the policy “thoughtful,” adding, “I wish that my school where I teach had such an extensive and well thought-out policy, so I think I may copy it and bring it to the administration there.”
Evans noted the policy was the result of the work of a team of four teachers – science teacher Alyse Pasek, English teacher Molly Jacobson, intensive instructional support teacher Sandra Carr and math teacher Catherine McDonald, who met over the summer to develop it.
While voting in favor of the policy change, committee member Marin Goldstein voice concern that the process did not include feedback from student representatives.
“Part of the collaboration piece – and I think it’s too late for this probably – I think that I would recommend for something this significant in the future might have been to engage some of maybe the student council or student representatives as a part of that conversation, as a part of creating this policy,” he said. “You’re talking a lot about collaboration, but it’s after the fact – it’s already built.”
Evans said the creation of the policy was the first part of what he hoped would be an ongoing conversation.
“My hope is to have students engage in a workshop in which we collectively identify the norms around student cell phone use,” he said. “One piece I feel is still missing from a procedural point of view is to have a school-wide set of norms – you have norms for meetings, you have norms for classrooms, but what are our norms about cell phone use? … There are lots of good reasons to use cell phones in class, so let’s define what those are. Let’s also define what should be saved for breaks and what are the things that are completely off limits.”
The high school also changed its policy on time allowed out of the classroom during an instructional period, reducing the length of time a student is permitted to be elsewhere from 15 minutes to 10 minutes during each 84 minute block. This change, Evans said, was in response to what the administration felt was an abuse of the previous policy and a loss of valuable learning time.
When asked by Kwiecinski about special circumstances, Evans said enforcement is at the discretion of the teacher and the school would also take into consideration documented medical or educational needs when exercising the policy.
“Teachers have to make these kinds of judgments all the time … We trust our teachers to make reasonable and appropriate decisions around those situations, and I think they do a very good job with that,” he said.