The second year of the MHS cell phone policy is upon us. The policy was originally implemented because there had been a decrease in student engagement and social elements as many students in class were simply glued to their phones rather than conversing with classmates or being engaged with the lesson their teachers were presenting them with. MHS believed the best way to do this was to eliminate cell phones from MHS students’ learning experiences for them to get the most out of their learning.
Principal Dr. Alexandria Rios-Taylor shared, “We are not against technology, but rather against the distraction that cell phones are bringing to the classroom.” Taylor played a key role in the planning of the cell phone policy before it hit the ground running for the 24-25 school year.
Social Studies Teacher Patrick Gaughan shared that he thought implementing the cell phone policy at least in his own class went pretty smoothly and that he believes a key way to make sure students follow the policy is to make sure they know he is serious about enforcing it to preserve their learning experience.
A big part of the cell phone policy is just making sure that students are getting the best out of not only their learning experiences but also their social experiences. Gaughan shared that students being more involved in the class not only benefits their overall attentiveness with their learning but also helps them build social skills with their classmates as they were so buried in their phones making them not face to face with their tablemates and having conversations with them.
Gaughan believes that the cell phone policy was the right move for MHS students social experiences as he shared, “Coming out of COVID when everyone was locked in their rooms and the only interactions students had with one another were through a screen, it was hard coming back and having them back together in a class again especially with the phones.”
Gaughan continued, “The phones were consuming all of the students’ attention while in class.” He felt exhausted each day trying to pry students away from their cell phones. Implementing the cell phone policy eliminates the cell phone distraction.
“Not only are we teaching these kids about the various topics in the classes but we are also teaching them social skills,” shared Gaughan. He felt that it was much harder to have students learn social skills by talking with each other while they were sucked into their phone.
Taylor echoed some of these thoughts as she also believes without the cell phones teacher-student relationships have become better since the cell phone policy has been implemented as it is no longer the teacher versus the cell phone. Since the implementation of the cell phones MHS has also seen an increase in every core academic subject on standardized tests. Taylor believes these increases are aided by less distractions in the classroom thanks to the cell phone policy.
MHS Sophomore Ethan Mason shared his thoughts on the cell phone policy. Being a sophomore this year the cell phone policy at MHS is all Mason has ever known. Mason shared that overall he doesn’t like the cell phone policy but believes that overall it does benefit his learning experience. His one critique of the policy would be to allow students to be on their phone after they are done with their work as it is “very boring once I finish my work in the class.”
MHS was not the only school to implement this cell phone policy as many schools around Illinois also have followed similar policies for similar reasons as MHS. Taylor shared that Evanston was Mundelein’s sister school last year as they also implemented the cell phone policy. Taylor shared that a cell phone committee planned the policy for a full year before it was launched in the 24-25 school year to make sure it was as successful as it could be.
With the major success of the cell phone policy in its pilot year Taylor shared that MHS plans to keep the cell phone policy for many years to come and that she believes it will benefit many more students’ learning experiences for years to come.
To reiterate the values and beliefs of those in charge of the cell phone policy, Mundelein High School is by no means against cell phones in a school setting and more focused on the importance of eliminating distractions such as cell phones during valuable class and learning time.
