Cell Phone

Cell Phone Use at ESSMY

Since the beginning of the school year, Junior High Students have been asked to leave their cell phones in their lockers except during lunch.  This change is policy was enacted after observing that more and more students were distracted by their phones rather than using them to enhance their learning during class time.

So far, teachers are reporting that they have far fewer infractions involving students who are bringing their phones to class or using them in ways that are counterproductive to learning.  In some cases, teachers will request that students bring phones in to use for specific activities.  On those occasions, students are expected to use their devices for those activities only, however, the general rule is no cell phones in the classroom.

Should one student break this rule three times, we will call parents and work on a plan to change this behaviour.

At the same time, students are welcome to bring their own chrome books/laptop/tablets for classroom use.  If a student does not have access to a device, we also have a chromebook rental plan in place.  Please contact our office for a chromebook rental agreement. 

With these new measures in place, we hope to greatly reduce distraction by cell phones during the school day.