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New Cell Phone Policy Goes into Effect in Worcester Public Schools

Posted on by Vaseline
New Cell Phone Policy Goes into Effect in Worcester Public Schools

WORCESTER — A new school year means a new strategy to address one of the biggest barriers to learning in schools: cell phones.

Worcester Public Schools adopted a revised cell phone policy in June, allowing students to use cell phones, earbuds, tablets and cameras in limited amounts. Students may use these items if they are approved by teachers and if they are being used for educational purposes as directed by a teacher. Otherwise, the items are expected to remain in special bags designated by the teacher.

The new rules are a change from the old policy and the policy of most school districts, which completely ban cell phone use in the classroom. Teachers said the policy was difficult to enforce given the ubiquity of cell phones in today’s society.

More: Worcester School Board revises cell phone policy, approves by 6-3 vote

Worcester Schools Superintendent Rachel Monárrez told reporters Monday morning that the new policy is designed with a more realistic approach to cell phone use. The goal is to teach children when it is appropriate to pull out their phones and when it is not.

“As we prepare kids for the future, they need to know when to use a cell phone and when not to use it in the workplace, and school is the model training ground for how it works in the workplace,” Monárrez said. “Kids need to practice that as they go along so they’re ready for what their future is going to look like.”

While other school districts, such as Northbridge, have implemented stricter rules on cell phones, such as requiring phones to be stored in special cases at all times, Monárrez says that doesn’t work for some families who want to communicate directly with their child during the school day.

“It’s not a strict ban on cell phones. A lot of our kids want to be able to reach their child in case of an emergency,” Monárrez said. “What we’ve done is create a policy that only applies if a teacher says it’s something that might be educationally necessary, otherwise they’re out of sight.”

Mayor and WPS School Board Chairman Joseph M. Petty said the old policy needed to be updated and that the current policy will provide teachers with more flexibility.

“It’s something that we put together that needed to be updated. It’s not like students are going to turn their phones on every day, it’s up to the teacher how they’re going to use it for educational purposes,” Petty said. “We can tweak it a little bit after this year if we need to. For parents who don’t want their child using their cell phone, don’t let them bring their cell phone to school.”

Students get their first taste of the new rules

After the first day of school, the students received a detailed explanation of the new rules.

“I think we covered it in every class today,” said Kleri Morcka, an 11th-grader at Doherty Memorial High School.

Students indicated that not every teacher had a bag for students to put their devices in, but that the new policy was very clear.

“I kind of expected it in high school,” said Kallie Smith, a ninth-grader at Doherty. “Although I didn’t expect them to pull out the bags and make us put our phones in them.”

The distractions that phones cause, as well as the prevalence of phones in bullying incidents, have drawn increased attention from school districts. Kleri, a student council member at Doherty, said the new rules will be an adjustment for some students.

“I personally didn’t use my phone that much at school, but I know other students were on it a lot and I think it was distracting for them,” Kleri said.

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