Greene County High School students will see a change when they arrive at school this year dealing with their cell phones.

Principal Karen Shannon says there is a new building-wide cell phone policy where each classroom will have student-assigned pockets to place their cell phones and not have cell phones with them during class. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio the previous policy wasn’t unanimously used or enforced last year.

“When it’s a building-wide policy it’s much easier for everyone to be like, ‘Nope, that’s the rule.’”

Shannon points out that there are a set of consequences for students who do not follow the policy, including the most severe being the loss of a cell phone for the entire school year. She explains the reasons for implementing this policy has to do with shortened class periods, as the high school switches from trimesters to semesters with only 44 minutes per class period, as well as eliminating distractions that cell phones can be.

“Because really at the end of the day, it’s about their academic success, and their engagement, and their learning that we’re responsible for giving. And we can’t compete with all the notifications, and the dinging, and the vibrating, and the flashing lights. We need their undivided attention in order to deliver the education that we’re here to provide and they deserve to get.”  

Shannon surveyed the other nine high schools in the Heart of Iowa Conference and found five had similar policies, while some outside of the conference also had a similar policy, and went further by banning cell phones in classrooms altogether. She hopes that parents will have discussions with their kids about the policy. She adds the parents can always call the front office at 515-386-2188 to get messages, especially urgently, to their teens.