TCA no phone policy yields results

It might seem obvious that playing games on a phone, watching videos and checking social media during class is a distraction, but researchers are finding using cell phones immediately before classes can result in several minutes of non-focused thinking when it is time to learn.

A Pew Research Center poll determined 82% of kindergarten through grade 12 teachers in the U.S. said their school or district has a cell phone policy of either no phones in class or no phones during school.

With focus on doing everything possible in keeping the campus a productive learning environment, Willow Park Trinity Christian Academy Head of School Craig Smith announced the school's new no phone in classroom policy is having results.

"It started this year," Smith explained. "Kids bring their phones on campus and they actually put them in a secure place until the end of the day. If there is a situation where a parent has to get in contact with the student we would make that happen, of course."

A phone call to the campus by a parent can reunite a student with their phone quickly in the case of an emergency.

"This is the initiative of our high school principal," Smith said of principal Jesse Whiteaker. "The idea is to eliminate as many distractions as possible."

Smith said in the first nine weeks since implementing the policy there has been improvement in academic performance and a decrease in demerits, and he believes the no phone policy has been a factor in that achievement.

"There has been tremendously positive feedback from the parents, and you can imagine how excited the kids are to be separated from their phones every day," Smith said light-heartedly. "But the idea has grown on them. However, if you ask a kid if they would rather be with their phone or without their phone, you are going to get 89 percent with. But they have adjusted well."