A cell phone pocket holder hangs in the Upper School office work room. (Photo by Andrew Rowan ’19)
A new cell phone procedure that requires students to place their cell phones in over-the-door shoe pockets is beginning to be implemented, and not all students are happy about it.
Upper School Director Meredith Godley said the procedure would give teachers the option to ask students to put their phone in the pocket “for the whole class if there is no reason for anyone to use it [during the] class.”
Math Department Chair Katie LuBrant said she bought pockets for her department “so people wouldn’t cheat in math and could put them there for big tests.” She added that she “heard kids cheating with cell phones so I thought, ‘Oh, let’s just find a way to collect them’ [in a way] that’s not just throwing them in a box.”
Godley said that when the Math Department first shared the idea in a faculty meeting, it seemed like everyone in the meeting “felt it would be useful,” even though the decision was “actually up to [each] individual department.” Godley added that after the meeting she found two different styles of pockets, one of which is pictured below, and asked the department chairs to select which one their teachers wanted.
Screenshot via Amazon
“[The pockets] are a result of a growing concern about academic dishonesty in the Upper School,” said Godley, who did not elaborate further.
Dean of Students Mike Brunswick said that while he’s not sure “if we are going to implement it as a school,” he thinks that it will “actually help students not get their phone[s] taken away because it takes away the temptation to look at it during class.”
Some students have disagreed: “[Teachers] should let kids manage their own temptations,” said Junior Blake Weiner, “I can see if there’s an issue, and then the school can make you put it away, but to make students hand it in prematurely … I don’t approve.”
Junior T’Shay McNeil said she gets the concept but thinks teachers “need to [look for cell phones] more.” McNeil described a teacher who walked up and down the desk aisles during tests.
When asked why teachers can’t just take away phones when they see them out, History Department Chair Clark Thomson said it makes him “hunt for the phones. It turns into a cat and mouse game.” He added that he thinks the pockets are a great idea because “kids, like adults, can’t help themselves. There’s really no reason for people to be on their phone during class unless it relates to the class.”
When asked whether the pockets would affect students using iPads and wearing smart watches, Godley said “not yet.”
“[The school] is punishing everyone for a small group of people who use their phones inappropriately,” said junior Mya Corsey, “If they trust [the juniors] enough to go up to Main Street, we should have enough [trust] to have our phones.”
McNeil explained that putting cell phones in a pocket feels like a punishment because it is “an invasion of privacy.”
“I would say I’m sorry they feel that way,” said Godley when asked about some students’ feelings on the pockets, “I think that having the pockets benefits everyone because even if you have never looked down at your device during class, having your phone in the pocket [means] no teacher will ever wonder what you are doing if you are looking down towards your backpacks or under the desk.”
English Department Chair Debra Galler said that she has her students use their cell phones during class for a variety of reasons but has found in recent years that “it seems like students are increasingly more dependent on phones.” She explained that even during the “one minute” she passes out papers to her class, everyone is [checking] their phone.
“I wonder if this might really help to learn that they just have to disconnect from them,” adds Galler, “I do think we have to be open to [the fact that cell phones are] a resource some students might need, but we also have to remind students that [the] 40 minutes [of class] … is about engaging with each other and not [with] phones.”
“Having [phones] easily accessible but not in students’ hands is a really interesting idea. I’m excited to try it,” said Galler.
The Agenda Committee rewrote the cell phone policy in Spring 2016. The policy states that “use of personal technology in classrooms is determined by each teacher” and may only be used “as a constructive tool for school work.” Asked whether the faculty may send the cell phone policy back to Agenda for revision, Godley said it wasn’t discussed but thinks the “faculty are pretty open anytime the students want to revise [a] policy that accurately reflects what [is happening] in classes. … [We didn’t discuss it] because [the pockets are] consistent with the [current] policy.”
Upper School English teacher Dan Sussman said some teachers were surprised to learn that it wasn’t a mandated policy, “because that’s what seemed to be the conclusion at the faculty meeting.”
“[The pockets] aren’t going to work well on a case-by-case basis,” said Sussman, “We need to be able to tell students that they have to put their phones in the pockets because it is coming from the principal and being uniformly enforced.”
“I was under the impression that it was universal, but I’m assuming we have to discuss that more as a faculty,” said Galler, “I heard enough enthusiasm about the idea from my colleagues in the meeting that I felt comfortable enough ordering them for the [English] department.”
“I think it’s awesome, said World Language Department Chair Rob Nasatir, who first brought the idea to his classroom last year. “I don’t have my own classroom, so to be able to set up the routine with all my classes [in all different rooms] is going to be great,” said Nasatir.
Upper School English Teacher Dan Sussman hangs up his cell phone pockets. He tells WordsWorth that the location pictured won’t be its final resting place.(Photo by Andrew Rowan ’19)
Freshman Abigail Dawson told WordsWorth that “students shouldn’t be punished if they forget to
put their phone in the pocket.” Junior Courtney Tarter wondered “what will happen [if] students don’t give their phone in.”
Godley said that the pockets will continue into next year: “I think in the fall most classrooms are going to have the pockets hanging up, right now I think it is just those who have ordered them, [have] them, and wants to use them.”
Upper School English Teacher Emily Salazar, who will be on maternity leave through Thanksgiving, said she’s “curious to see how [the implementation] goes. It should be fairly well established by the time I get back, so I’ll be interested to see how it went.”
