Powell High School wants students to be where their feet are this year, which means being present, social and engaged with the world around them, not the virtual one inside their phones.

Starting this week, students will no longer be able to use their cellphones, smart watches and other personal electronic devices at Powell High from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. on Friday except in cases of emergency, according to the updated policy in the student handbook.

“Cellphones and other personal electronic communication devices are to be kept out of sight and in silent mode while the student is in the building,” the Powell High student handbook reads.

Previously students could use cell phones in school with permission being required from the teacher to use them in that classroom, the devices were subject to search and seizure if the administration reasonably thought that the device contained information that threatened the general safety or welfare of students.

A policy, similar to the high school’s new policy, exists at Powell Middle School that prohibits the use of cellphones and other electronic communication devices on campus during school hours with the exception of emergencies. It allows for disciplinary action including confiscation, and Powell Middle staff can provide a courtesy basket or area for
students to place their phones.

At the high school, students who leave campus during this time frame for things like lunch, college courses and work experiences can use the devices when they leave the building. Parents who are used to reaching their students at school using their cellphones will still have access to their children and can call the office which will notify the student, Principal Tim Wormald said.

“It's time to do something different. It's kind of been a long time coming, and something we probably should have done a long time ago, but it's going to be a heavy lift,” he said. “I think it's going to be a hard thing for a lot of kids to adjust to, and I think it's going to take some adjustment from all of us.”

The decision to change the school’s policy comes down to three things, he said. 

More schools are opting for stricter cellphone policies on the state and national level in response to the “addictive nature” of cellphones. A survey of Powell High teachers last spring also found that 90% of them viewed cellphone use as a problem that interferes with learning, he said. 

Wormald also took note of the findings detailed in “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt. 

“He is very detailed in looking at a lot of the issues that have come about or really increased since 2010, which he's kind of saying is about the time when we started seeing smartphones get into the hands of students,” Wormald said. “And he's really connected it to kind of a mental health crisis that we have, not only in our country, but in other countries as well, and does a really good job pinpointing that on phones, which I couldn't come up with any good arguments to argue against the points that he was making.”

On first offense of the policy, students will hand the device to a staff member who will turn it off and hand it to the office. The student can then pick up their phone or device at the end of the day with approval from administration. A second offense sees the device given to a parent or guardian for retrieval (as do all subsequent offenses) and a third offense results in one day of in-school suspension. 

A fourth offense also results in a day of ISS but also excludes the student from attending and participating in extra-curriculars for 15 calendar days (excluding vacation) and a fifth offense results in the loss of extracurriculars for 30 days. 

Continuous violations may require the student to turn their device in at the beginning of each school day. 

Wormald understands that this will be an adjustment period for everyone and there will be a grace period in the beginning. 

“The main thing I'm hoping for is that our students will kind of re-engage in face-to-face interactions during kind of unstructured time … a lot of times when our students come into the building in the morning or at lunchtime, they've got a screen in front of their face, and they're not interacting with each other as much as they are interacting with the technology,” Wormald said. 

He said the new policy will help students focus more on academics, while also potentially cut down on cyber bullying and other negative activities kids may be tempted to engage in. He also expects it to help develop habits that will be valuable later in life, like face-to-face interaction and the ability to focus without a screen. 

But, this isn’t expected to be an easy change.

“Most students are not going to see this or receive this positively. I think it's going to be a challenge. And so one of the things that I want our students to know is that, really, we're not doing this to try to make your life miserable,” Wormald said. “We're doing this because, first and foremost, we care about you.”