Is Benicia High Schools new cell phone policy out of touch?
The news media recently came to my small-town high school. Not because of another bomb threat, or to report on our winning soccer team. They came because of Benicia High School’s new cell phone policy. Like most schools, we previously weren’t allowed to use cell phones during class, except for the rare educational purpose. If a student was caught with a phone in class, a teacher would either keep it until the end of the period or just ask him or her to put it away. We were also allowed to use our cell phones during passing period. Now that the new policy has been put into effect, if a teacher or campus supervisor sees a cell phone out during class or passing period, he must confiscate it and bring it to the office. Each teacher has been given yellow envelopes just to keep the phones in. If a student’s phone gets taken away the first time, they can’t pick it up until that Friday after school with a parent. The student and parent then have to sit with the principal and discuss how cell p
