The phone policy here at Brentwood High School still reads the same as it did last year and even the year before that: Cell phone and other personal electronic device use if permissible before school, during passing periods, during lunch, and after school for activities and clubs.  

To reiterate, at Brentwood students are still allowed to have phones during passing periods and lunch. “We still let kids have it in the hallways and those kinds of things,” said new superintendent Dr. Zielinski. So how come phone policies feel so different? At least for me, it feels like teachers have started to really crack down and be less lenient with phone use in class this year.  We are told to get off our phones and take out headphones immediately when entering the classroom.

But am I the only student that’s felt the change? I asked senior Jack O’Brien if he felt the phone policy was stricter, and if it changed from his first year to now.  He recalled that during his freshman year, he felt the policy was strict, but loosened up during his sophomore and junior years. Now, though, in his senior year, he feels that the phone policies are stricter again. “Every time I take my phone out, someone tells me to put it away,” he said. “Even if I’m not going on my phone during a time of instruction.”

When asked about this, Principal Dr. Johnson confirmed my observation and shared that the administration has been working on reducing phone use among the student body.  He is working to understand the effects of phones and feels that the school being better about enforcing the policy is more than just because teachers think they are distracting to students. “It’s not only the distraction that a cell phone could be,” he said. “But also how it is decreasing the attention span of our students.” Dr. Johnson is most worried about how it is negatively impacting learning. “Therefore,” he said, “we have to get back to a point where we protect teaching and learning with everything we can.”  

While Brentwood’s phone policies are being more strictly enforced this year, the more I read about other St. Louis high school phone policies, I’ve learned that it’s not just a Brentwood feeling of change.  

At Clayton High School, according to the article, “School Districts across the area start the year off with strict cell phone bans” from New Channel 4, parents and administrators have also been pushing for a stricter ban on phones and other smart devices.  Some schools, such as Priory, MICDS, and SLUH, have adopted very strong policies for restricting phone use in school altogether.  Some of the solutions that schools have come up with include lockable phone pouches and phone lockers.  

With that in mind, perhaps Brentwood’s policies aren’t so bad; or at least not as strict as some schools. But will they become more extreme? Dr. Zielinski said that an increase in restrictions isn’t out of the realm of possibility for the future, but no decision would be made without feedback in order to see if this is what would be the best thing for everyone here at our school. Dr. Zielinski reiterated how the decision would be “something we would want to have a conversation about with teachers, with students, with parents, because it’s a big thing for parents, too.”