The 2023-2024 school year has introduced a new policy prohibiting Trinity High School students from using their phones in classrooms.
This new policy is meant to reduce the misuse of technology during the school day and lessen the amount of distractions present in the classroom. Phones, however, are still allowed to be used in common areas such as hallways and the cafeteria. Overall, this policy is believed to improve students’ classroom performance.
Trinity High School guidance counselor, Mr. Nikolopoulos, explains that he believes the phone restrictions will allow teachers to make the most of their limited instructional time throughout the school year.
Freshman Lita Feriozzi believes that this phone policy can be beneficial to the teens impacted by it. She sees the break from phones as an opportunity to focus on living in the moment.
“Phones can restrict making good memories,” Feriozzi states.
Feriozzi’s perspective is shared by student body president Jack Pan. He has found that the restrictions help to increase socialization between students during class, and that distancing themselves from their phones will allow students to form new friendships.
However, not all students are in favor of the phone policy as some believe it has unfairly limited their high school experiences. Pan and Feriozzi both feel that Trinity High School students’ freedoms have been limited by the new restrictions.
“Kids expected to finally get their freedom in high school and they just took something like that away,” Pan says.
Trinity teachers and faculty think that it is a good idea to remove phones from the classroom. Geometry teacher Mr. Rhodes sees phones as a distraction and believes that they lead to disciplinary issues. He also feels as though phones serve no real purpose in the classroom since students won’t be able to use their phones when they join the work force.
“I understand where the administration is coming from and it makes sense. Phones distract from learning and start 90% of behavioral issues. The policy will help to improve both discipline and grades,” Rhodes states.
As helpful as the new policy will be, teachers and faculty are still able to empathize with some students’ resentment for the restrictions on their phones. Nikolopoulos and Rhodes both agree that if they were students now they would likely feel the same way Trinity High School students do.
