The Kaneland Board of Education implemented a new cell phone policy in the high school starting with the 2024-25 school year for students throughout the school day.
Students’ cell phones must now go in each classroom’s phone pocket for the majority of each class period. Additionally, AirPods and headphones are meant to stay in backpacks and out of ears.
The policy for the phones and AirPods was passed prior to the 2024-25 school year in a public board meeting and is meant to help students stay focused throughout class.
“It is my understanding that the phone pockets hold the students’ phones until it is an allowed time for phone use,” Kaneland High School guidance counselor Anne Kuntz said. “They are a simple tool to help a teacher manage the classroom environment.”
The students’ opinions about the pockets have been mixed.
“I think the pockets help students pay attention and get their work done, but it also makes students upset that they no longer have the freedom of being able to quickly check their phone for the time or text their parents or friends,” senior Ava Lange said.
Lange explained that the phone pockets can take away students’ choice of whether or not to be engaged, which can be hard to adapt to.
The Board is aiming to help students put their full effort into their classwork and assignments, as well as to encourage them to be more present and participatory in the classroom.
“The hope is to increase student achievement because of the more engaging classroom,” Assistant Principal of Curriculum and Instruction Brian Kowalski said.
By being engaged and proactive about assignments and upcoming tests, students are able to more effectively prepare for class and increase their possibility of earning better grades.
Many teachers have liked the new policy because it has helped their students pay attention throughout class.
“The overall response from the teachers has been very positive, that the students are more engaged and less distracted,” Kowalski said.
In some classes, however, teachers utilize phones to aid student learning, and they have had to adapt to this change. In Advanced Placement Art and Design, for example, students regularly use their phones to take photos of their work to document their progress.
Even when the phone pocket policy wasn’t mandated, some teachers used them to encourage responsibility and help students concentrate in class. The foreign language department has utilized the pockets in prior years.
“I have had my students put their phones in the pockets for several years, but now that the whole school is following this policy there is less of an argument from the students to follow the rule,” Spanish teacher Michelle Jurcenko said.
