BOISE, Idaho — Starting next year at Capital High School, no phones will be allowed in classes. The school sent the decision out to students and staff Wednesday, notifying them of the phone-ban.
Students will however still be able to use their phones during passing periods and lunch.
“Students won’t be able to have their cell phones out from bell to bell,” said Derek Gardner, principal at Capital High School.
Gardner said when discussing this change, the school took a survey of all teachers to see if it was something they would be interested in. 97% of teachers said they wanted a no-phone rule.
“I did not expect that strong of a response,” Gardner said.
Capital won’t be taking phones fully away, but rather, they will be trusting that students follow the policy. If staff members do see a phone out, they will take it away.
In addition, students will still be using computers in class for educational purposes.
“We’re still utilizing technology, this isn’t a, ‘Hey, we’re going back to paper and pencil,’” Gardner said. “All of our students have a Chromebook, and they’re able to do very similar educational tasks as they could do on their phone.”
Gardner said the school is hearing positive feedback from community members. Junior Miriam Stafford said she understands why the policy is taking place, but said she does wonder what the transition will be like.
“It’s just frustrating, like having it all the time, especially for those people who are going to be seniors – just being able to have their phone all the time. Then having to abruptly switch – that might just be hard,” Stafford said.
Junior Eden Francis said she hasn’t heard super positive responses, but understands personally why it is happening.
“People are really mad about it,” Francis said. “I’ve seen a few people screenshotting the Instagram page where they showed us and they’re like, ‘Oh no, we’re all cooked.’”
However, Stafford said it was sometimes a distraction in class when students were on their phones.
“I had a teacher who would, if she saw your phone, she would take it,” Stafford said. “So there were some students who would fight back. So that was a little interesting.”
Stafford also said it might be helpful for the mental health of students, to not be constantly checking their phones for notifications.
“A lot of times, you can get overwhelmed with just everything that happens, especially social media,” Stafford said. “Your self-image can become depressed and just seeing everything that everyone else does. And just being able to put that aside and focus on something else and not have to worry about how many likes or whatever you're getting and just being able to focus on something else.”
If a parent does need to get ahold of their student in the day, they can call the front desk, and the front desk will pull the student out of class, Gardner said.
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