Phones are devices that seem as though they are a complete necessity for the younger generations. Everywhere that you go, every teen has their face in a screen. Phones travel with us everywhere, even to school. However, Wheeling Park High School is now a phone-free zone. WPHS is now implementing a brand new phone-free policy. As soon as a student walks into a classroom, they must put their phone in a numbered pouch hung on the wall. When the class is complete, they are allowed to grab their phones from the pouch on the way out. Students are permitted to use their phones during passing periods and lunch. Is this new policy an extreme overreaction to a problem that wasn’t there in the first place? Or, is the policy a necessary step to ensure that students are focused and safe while at school.

Mr. Kearns, a math teacher at WPHS said, “I like the policy and I think that it’s fair, the students are much more focused on their work and I have to give less instructions and my students are giving much more attention to their assignments.”

“We are receiving amazing feedback from the teachers who are saying that now they are seeing their students more driven than they have in the past four or five years,” said Mr. Doyle, who is in charge of safety at the school.

Wheeling Park High School is not the only high school to implement this new policy. The policy is “being put into multiple school systems. The largest school systems in the country, like Los Angeles and other schools nationwide are starting to put this system in place as well,” said Mr. Doyle.

“I actually really like the new phone policy. At first I was not interested in it at all, but I do find that it helps me be more attentive in class,” said senior Grace Robertson-Villamagna. “Even though previously, I was never on my phone, it’s just the thought of it not being with me and there is no way I could look at it that is very helpful.”

On the first day of school, WPHS experienced an internal lockdown, in which the students were not permitted to take their phones from the assigned pouches. However, students not being able to have their phones definitely had a positive impact on the inspection that took place during the lockdown. “During the lockdown we were not chasing our tails on all of these fabricated stories from social media and then shared with us,” said Mr. Doyle. “A couple years ago we did an internal lockdown, and we were in that for so long, and got nothing out of it because we were chasing these stories from social media. We didn’t know what was real and what was not real at the time.”

The next time that you walk into a class and you get annoyed that you must put your phone in your pouch, recognize it for your safety and for the sake of your high school education. No phone, no problem!