School cellphone restrictions seeing mostly positive feedback

“Kids have really positively responded, we can’t say that we’ve had really any big pushback. It’s still early days, and we certainly know that, but I think what we heard from our student representatives back in the spring was they just wanted some consistency and expectation, so we are really working with our staff to make sure that we have consistency within the school, that the classroom expectations are similar from one place to the other,” said SD57 Superintendent Jameel Aziz.

As for implementation, Aziz adds this has also been a pretty smooth, positive experience so far, adding that up to this point he hasn’t heard any significant negative feedback from students, parents, or staff.

“Kindergarten to grade 7, our students do not have access to their phones at all during the course of the day, and I think that there’s a freedom there, it lets kids be kids, it lets them play and lets them focus and concentrate on other things. At our high schools, they still have access outside of instructional time, but hopefully that is actually limiting some of their distraction and perhaps helping build some better relationships and helping to help them have better focus,” Aziz said.

Both White and Derouin agree with Aziz on this point, saying the cellphone restrictions have improved the day-to-day classroom experience in some ways.

“We’re so used to just sitting on our phones after we’re done class. I think it’s perfect now because you’re actually talking to your peers around you and you’re able to focus way more on schoolwork,” White said.

“It definitely helps people stay focused for way longer and actually finish their work instead of being like, ‘oh, I can just check my phone quickly,’ and then you’re out of focus for another 15 minutes,” Derouin added.

While White, Derouin, and many others feel the cellphone restrictions have been positive, there are also many students who feel very negative to both the restrictions and the implementation.

“People are like, what if my mom needs to call me? And there’s definitely mostly been negative (feedback). I like to look on the positive side of things, but I think a lot of students are taking it negatively and are wanting the phones back,” White said.

“Lots of people focus with music — I’m not one of them, but I know that lots of people do — and I think that is a very, very hard adjustment adjustment for them to have,” Derouin said.

Beyond the most obvious and simple explanation of “people like their phones,” Derouin adds she’s heard several concerns raised by students, some of which she agrees with. These include but aren’t limited to:

Potential emergency situations
Missing out on the positive benefits of technology, such as online learning resources.

“I can’t say that it’s perfect, but I think that’ll come with time and get sorted out as it goes, because it is such a new rule,” Derouin said.

Like the student reception, Aziz says feedback from parents has been largely positive but some concerns do remain. He says the school district is primarily focused on educating both parents and students what the restrictions entail in the early periods of its implementation so that everyone is on the same page regarding the rules, as well as why the restrictions are in place.

“I think we have to do some more parent education so that our parents understand that if they have to get a message to their child, just like they did when I was in school, they phone the office, the secretary takes a message, they call the student down at the next break that makes sense,” he said.

“A lot of our parents are used to being able to connect in contact with their kids 24-7, so I would suspect that many of our parents are having to change their methods around communicating with their child,” he continued.

As the school year progresses SD57 will continue to focus on ensuring the implementation of these restrictions remains smooth, and continuing to educate families on what it all entails.

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by Tommy Osborne

School cellphone restrictions seeing mostly positive feedback

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