Phone Policy Update

Since the start of the 2024-2025 school year, high schools across the country have been rolling out various phone policies to restrict usage on campus. The School hasn’t shied away from this, having introduced phone holders to regulate phone usage. There are also no-phone days, where if a phone is seen, it is taken even during breaks. 

An interview with the Head of the Upper School, Ricky Lapidus, helps break down the rest of the School’s plans for the years to come. Regarding the phone policy, Lapidus says“I feel strongly that we should be a phone-free Upper School during the school day … I also am considering doing something slightly different for seniors. I’m thinking about getting them ready for college where, for better or worse, one is pretty much on one’s own. However, there are a lot of logistics to consider, so that’s why we’re going slowly.” With a different phone policy for seniors, this continues a common school tradition of setting people up well for life in college.

Part of the goal of the upcoming phone policy is to reverse the effects that the Pandemic has had. Lapidus believes that phone usage has an aspect of isolation that blocks us from the world which has been very triumphant and problematic, “I think it’s clear that the pandemic took a toll on every aspect of life, one of which was our sense of community. Phones are one way in which we’ve isolated ourselves from the world very successfully and, inherently, problematically”, Lapidus further explained.

The no-phone days have proven to be successful for the faculty community. They were made to be successful in a gentle and persistent manner. Lapidus goes on to acknowledge that phone usage for teenagers has turned into an addiction, saying, “We’re dealing with an epidemic of addiction for the vast majority of people in the world – students and adults – and we have to respond with warmth and boundaries, not frustration.” With no exact date, he expects that a phone-free campus could be introduced at the start of the second semester, January 2025. 

It will still be interesting to see upcoming changes the School has for how phones will be on campus later in the year. Along with that, hopefully, the new policy will have a positive response from the community, along with allowing a more productive environment.