Cellphone ban pitched at Millcreek schools. Why teachers want them kept in lockers

Millcreek high school students might have some separation anxiety this fall.

The Millcreek Township School Board is considering revising district policy to require McDowell and McDowell Intermediate high school students to keep their mobile phones turned off and in their lockers through the school day.

The goal is to reduce distractions in the classroom as well as cyberbullying and social media drama playing out at school, building administrators said in outlining the proposed changes last week. School directors are expected to vote on the revised policy on Tuesday.

Students need to disconnect from their phones at school, McDowell Intermediate High School Principal Scott Quivey said.

"We're here to educate our students," Quivey told school directors. "The main focus in the building needs to be on learning, and right now there is a definite battle between learning and this social interaction through the phone... that we are competing with every single day."

'Just a constant buzzing'

McDowell students currently are allowed to keep their mobile phones with them at school and to use them between classes, in the cafeteria and in some study periods.

The phones are a major distraction, school administrators said, even when they aren't in use. Phones buzz or chirp with notifications of a new text message or social media post.

During an 80-minute period in 15 grade 9-12 classrooms, teachers allowed students to have their cellphones on their desks to tally those alerts, McDowell High School Principal Sandra Means said. During that period, students received 4,273 notifications, or an average of 225 per classroom and 16.5 per student.

"It's just a constant buzzing," Means told school directors, and students anxious to read new social media posts or reactions are distracted from learning.

Also, students are socially isolated, interacting with their cellphones rather than each other, Means said.

"They have trouble interacting with each other," she said. "You walk into the cafeteria and many times they're buried into their cellphones, their earbuds are in and they can't even hear you talking."

And with students having access to their phones during the day, cyberbullying and social media drama playing out in school cause anxiety and some disciplinary problems, school administrators said.

Similar concerns have prompted school officials in some districts nationwide to ban mobile phones in schools or require students to check them at the classroom door. Legislation signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine this month mandates a policy for cellphone use in all Ohio school districts and seeks to minimize cellphone use in schools.

But a September report by Common Sense Media found that almost all students participating in its study use their cellphones during school hours, even when they are prohibited. Rules often vary from classroom to classroom and aren't always enforced, students said.

How the policy would work

Revised rules at the high schools, Quivey said, "will look exactly like our middle schools', where phones are off and in the lockers all day."

Students and parents will have concerns about students not having access to their phones in an emergency, but students will be able to use landline phones in school offices in cases of family emergencies, Quivey said. Students also will continue to have access to email on their school Chromebooks, he said.

During a school-wide emergency, such as a shooting, school administrators and teachers will have access to landline and mobile phones, and students on mobile phones could spread misinformation or overload communications networks, Quivey said.

"There are channels of communication in place that students could interfere with," he said.

And students without phone distractions would be better able to focus on being safe, Quivey said.

Individual exceptions to the mobile phone ban will be made for students who use their phones for health reasons, such as monitoring a medical condition, school officials said.

Several school directors questioned why mobile phones should be banned through the entire school day.

"I understand that completely," School Director Jason Dean said of banning phones in classrooms. "I don't see the lunch and the tutorial piece of it."

Allowing students to use their phones during lunch would perpetuate social media anxieties and pressures during school, Means said.

"They go to lunch and the drama starts again," she said.

Tutorial periods are set aside for special help in a subject when needed, for studying and for other educational purposes, schools Superintendent John Cavanagh said.

Banning mobile phones in school will prompt students to turn to smartwatches and other personal devices, School Director Mike Lindner said.

"How far down this rabbit hole are you going to ban?" Lindner asked.

Administrators said that they will monitor the situation.

"It may be something that we need to address," Quivey said.

What do you think?: Should students be allowed to keep their smartphones in class? Vote in our poll

Students react

Several students interviewed by the Erie Times-News said they understand the need to keep phones turned off in class but not between classes or in the cafeteria.

"They should enforce not using phones in class," said Ella Bohrer, a freshman. "We should be able to use our phones at lunch."

One student said that he leaves his computer in his locker and uses his phone for some purposes in classes because it's easier to carry.

Some teachers have caddies where students place their phones when entering class and retrieve them when they leave. Those could be used in every class, students said.

"We're in high school. We're supposed to be old enough to be responsible," said Jalilah Clyburn, a freshman. "We should be able to have our phones. They just need to enforce the rules they have.

"And in an emergency when I want to use the phone and she wants to use the phone and she wants to use the phone," Clyburn said, pointing to friends, "how's that going to work when we're supposed to use landlines in the office?"

'It's not going to be easy'

Students' "knee-jerk" reaction to being disconnected will be negative at first, school officials said.

"I think right now it's hard for students to process," Means said. "(Having their cellphone) is so ingrained, they can't imagine going seven hours without it."

It could take a few months for students to become accustomed to the new policy, School Director Sallie Newsham said.

"It's not going to be easy in the beginning," Newsham said.

If the phone ban is implemented, the district should review how it's working after one year, School Director Shirley Winschel said. The review, she said, should include student reactions.

The proposed revisions to the electronic devices policy are attached to the May 13 School Board personnel and policy committee agenda on the Millcreek Township School District website at mtsd.org.

Adding a bus run could help: Millcreek school buses are often overcrowded, late

Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Millcreek school administrators propose McDowell, MIHS cellphone ban