Henrico students weigh in on school system’s cell phone policy

The return to school this month marked a new phone policy for some Virginia school divisions, but not Henrico County.

While other districts such as Richmond City and Hanover County have adopted the Virginia Department of Education’s recommended “bell-to-bell” phone ban , which restricts students from having their phone on them from the first bell until the dismissal bell, Henrico has so far stuck with its current phone policy, which it first adopted at the start of this school year.

The current HCPS policy requires middle and high school students to put their phones away during all classes, either in a division-provided pouch or lockbox or in their backpack, but allows students to have phones out between classes and at lunch. While the Henrico School Board is not set to make any immediate changes to the phone policy, they will review it along with the rest of HCPS’ Code of Student Conduct later this spring, Cox said.

But despite HCPS’ phone policy being the most lenient in the Richmond region, many students are still not a huge fan of putting their phones away, saying that it makes them feel more vulnerable if an emergency were to occur.

“I mean it’s a great idea, love the idea, you know, put phones away, less distractions. It just, you know, it just feels wrong,” said Richard, a junior at Highland Springs High. “It feels wrong not being able to have something that you can connect to your parents at any time just like that. Sure, if they call the school, they’ll get to you eventually, but if it’s something really, really pressing, they would want to get to you first.”

Other students said that having their phones during class and throughout the day, even if they are just listening to music, can help them unwind and destress, especially on hard days.

“I hate it,” Kevonte, a sophomore at Henrico High School, said about the phone policy. “Some kids would rather just be on their phone than talk to other people, some kids are like that. Some kids are more active and talkative, but some kids use [their phones] just to listen to music to kind of help calm down.”

“I don’t think it’s necessary,” said Makyi, a senior at Highland Springs High. “We all need our phones, like when we’re having a hard day. It’s a positive when you’re having a hard day and can listen to music or something like that. Sometimes you just need to get away from everything. So I don’t really like it, I understand it, but I don’t like it.

Implementation of policy varies

However, some students have already seen the benefits of the new policy, especially when it comes to school fights. Students have often used phones to record fights and even instigate or coordinate fights on social media, Ashley said, but ever since the new policy went in place last August, she believes the number of student fights at Highland Springs High has gone down.

“We haven’t really had any fights since people don’t have their phones, which is a great thing,” she said. “With the phones, people will be talking on the internet and people will be gossiping.”

When it comes to implementing the phone policy, it often depends on the teacher, students said. Ashley said that she noticed that teachers at her school tend to be more lenient with upperclassmen students, but stricter when it comes to freshmen and sophomores.

“Some of the teachers are strict. My teachers are more laid back with it, and I feel like the freshmen’s and the sophomores’ teachers are a little bit stricter with it, since they’re more the people that get into drama and stuff,” she said. “But my teachers are pretty laid back with it and pretty understanding.”

D’quan, a sophomore at Highland Springs High, said that most of his teachers will let him listen to music during class, as long as he isn’t scrolling on his phone. However, some teachers have run into problems with students refusing to turn in their phones during class, he said, and administrators have had to be brought in.

“There’s still a group of people who don’t turn their phone in,” he said. “Teachers try to enforce it. Some are strict and some don’t care. And then it gets to the point where some teachers start calling admin, and that’s when it gets real.”

A senior at Henrico High, who wished to remain anonymous, said that their teachers are very lenient with the phone policy, and have not taken their phone away yet, instead letting them have it out only at the beginning and the end of class.

“A lot of teachers don’t enforce it, so there’s that. Teachers are very chill about it. I haven’t had my phone taken yet, for months,” they said. “You can’t have it out, they’ll tell you to put it away, but they won’t put it in a [lockbox]. But for the first 10 minutes of class and the last 10 minutes of class, you can have it out.”

And while they admitted that having their phone on them in school is highly distracting, even affecting their academic performance, they can’t seem to get on board with the idea of parting with it during the school day.

“It’s badly distracting to all of the kids. It definitely is bad to have it in school,” they said. “Me personally, my grades would probably be better if I didn’t have my phone [in school]. But I need my phone, you know. It’s my phone.”

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.