BY LILIANA JIMENEZ

As the new year rolls around, students and teachers at BHS start to adjust to the new phone policy and have positive and negative feedback. 

“I don’t like the policy,” said BHS student Maya Miller. “I think teachers are making a big deal out of us using our phones in class. I had an incident where I needed to call my mom, but the policy made it more stressful than it had to be.”

Though some students have negative feedback on the policy, BHS Computer Science teacher, Gary Prodanas offered a rebuttal.

“Kids are paying attention more and their work is being done and turned in at a higher rate,” said Prodanas. “I’ve also noticed engagement levels go up.” 

But with this policy just being a couple of months old, BHS student Lauren Parga shares how this policy possibly affects her day-to-day school life. 

“I never typically used my phone that much during school anyways, so it hasn’t affected my day-to-day life during school,” said Parga. “The only thing it has truly taught me is how to read an analog clock.” 

With the policy being stricter in specific classrooms, the question of whether or not the policy should become more lenient has students answering. 

“Yes, I do wish the policy was more lenient,” said Miller. “I think it would be helpful if I were able to access my phone at certain moments during the class period.”

Even amidst general praise of the policy, some feel there could be improvements. 

“I think it would be great to have a system where your phone would be checked in once a day and we wouldn’t need to uncheck it and check it back in again,” Prodanas said. 

Even though both students and teachers disagree on different aspects of the new policy, they also agree on some parts such as benefitting from not being on their phones and there being certain changes to make the policy easier for both parties. 

“Yes I think I benefit,” said Prodanas. “I also think as a teacher, I benefit from the students not being distracted as much.”