It’s the start of a new school year. New year, new LT, new policies. 

With the new phone policy, students are not allowed to have their phone out at any point during the class. Students either have to put their phones in their backpacks or in a “phone pouch” at the front of the room. 

With the tardy policy, students who arrive within 10 minutes late (to first period) have to scan their ID and receive a tardy. If you are more than 10 minutes late, it is an absence. 

But are these policies really helping students? LION thinks not. These new policies involving phones and tardies are too harsh and should be rethought. 

The phone policy is causing frustration within the student body. Many students (and even some staff) feel like they are being treated like children, not future college students. The phone policy should be removed because students need to learn how to control their phones, and there could be an emergency. High school is supposed to be preparing students for college.

In college, there are no phone policies or pouches. Students should learn how to control their phone use during high school so they can succeed in college. If a student is on their phone the majority of class, they will soon learn how that is not effective by their grade dropping, and hopefully, they will put their phone away during class. 

Also, in the event of an emergency or violent incident, students have to exit the building or hide in the classroom, and they won’t have access to their phones. Students want their phones in times of emergency because they are going to want to text their family or friends and tell them they are OK. 

The school should put an end to the tardy policy because it takes up too much time, and kids should have a little wiggle room when getting to school. If you walk into the building late, you have to take out your ID and then scan it. This can take some time, especially if your ID is just thrown into your backpack somewhere. It would be a lot quicker for students to go straight to class and for their teacher to mark them tardy. 

Also, students who walk in even a second late have to scan in. This is unnecessary because being up to one minute late does not interrupt the learning process; the first minute of the first period is just the pledge and announcements. 

Some people argue that the phone policy makes students pay more attention during class. This may be true for some students, but students need to learn self-control, especially if they are juniors or seniors and are entering the real world soon. With this new policy, students won’t know how to be in charge of their phone usage and it may cause them to struggle at college. 

Other people argue that the tardy policy will create fewer tardies compared to last year. This is untrue because some students just do not care if they get tardy. Also, many times you can’t help it if you are late. For example, a student driver could make them late, there could be a lot of traffic, or a student could be stopped by a train.

These policies are too severe. They are not helping students, and the policies should be stopped or at least taken down a notch. 

Staff Vote: 19-4