Here’s why students support this Arlington ISD high school’s approach to cell phones

Here’s why students support this Arlington ISD high school’s approach to cell phones

A student at Seguin High School checks his cell phone in the hall on Sept. 12, 2024, in Arlington. The school allows phone use between classes and during lunch. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Arlington-ISD-cell-phone-6-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Arlington-ISD-cell-phone-6-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Students’ cell phones buzz and blink from baskets at the front of Seguin High School classrooms. Most are warm from charging — ports connected to cords provided by teachers.The charging stations, which started appearing across the school in 2023, were encouraged by Seguin Principal Billy Linson as a “win for kids and a win for the teachers.”For students, the stations keep them from scrambling to find a charging outlet between classes. For teachers, helping students charge makes it easier to enforce the school’s new cell phone policy. Seguin High School in Arlington ISD requires students’ cell phones to be “powered down and out of sight” during instructional time, Linson said. Unless teachers permit exceptions, students keep their phones in their bags, pockets or at classroom charging stations, then they catch up on texts and social media between classes or during lunch.The school’s staff started crafting the policy halfway through the 2023-24 school year, navigating a nationwide debate about cell phones in classrooms that intensified in the 2024-25 school year.
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Linson has seen students’ reliance on cell phones grow more prominent after 2020, echoing broader sentiments of education experts and psychologists. During COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, children became “connected completely” to devices, fueling addictions that had been evolving for years, he said.Students returned to school struggling to focus. Soon, their cell phone reliance was also fueled by parents, whose concerns have grown about school safety and easy communication with children in wake of a rise in school shootings and threats.In the past two years, Arlington ISD has seen shootings outside two high schools, each left one student dead.How do Arlington ISD high schools handle cell phones?

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As defined in the Student Code of Conduct, the district allows individual campuses to design their school’s cell phone policies. Here are the campuses’ policies:

Arlington High School leaves it to teachers to decide their class’s policy, according to a district spokesperson.

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Bowie, Lamar, Houston and Martin High Schools have similar policies to Seguin, requiring phones be powered down and out of sight during instructional time. Phones are allowed before and after school, during passing periods and at lunch, a spokesperson said.Linson views it as the school’s duty to help students learn to use their phones responsibly and for the right purposes. Phones have their place as educational resources, whether through quiz games or quick internet searches but, generally, devices distract from instruction, he said.“Our goal is to keep kids focused on instruction during each 90-minute block, each class period, as much as possible,” Linson said. “Time is the one thing we have in common with everyone, and so we want to maximize the instructional time that we have with kids.” Students scroll on a cell phone during lunch at Seguin High School on Sept. 13, 2024, in Arlington. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)Danielle Moss, who teaches freshman English at Seguin, has taught for 16 years and watched devices evolve from the chunky BlackBerry with thumb-testing keyboards in 2008 to the slick glass, versatile Apple Watch of 2024. She thinks cell phones have their place, so instead of banning them, she’s tried integrating devices into her classroom with games and phone breaks.Linson thinks most students want to live up to their teacher’s expectations and follow the school’s standards, as long as the rules are clear, he said.“What you can’t do is be wishy-washy with it,” Linson said. “Tell them the expectation, and most kids get in line with it.”He speaks as a father. Linson trusts his sixth-grade daughter to not over-rely on her devices and follow her school’s phone policy.Phillip Scott, a senior at Seguin, moved to Arlington in 2023 from a school in New Orleans that confiscated cell phones if students had them out in class and hallways, he said.Phillip prefers Seguin’s policy, where students can use their phones in classes if they finish their assignments before the bell rings. Most teachers allow listening to music during work sessions, which Phillip said helps him focus on his assignments.But Seguin’s freedom has drawbacks, he said. Phillip sees some students not paying attention and rushing through work to get on their phones. Others are too distracted with catching up on social media between periods, so they barely talk to people.Juniors Ailyn Lopez and Tiwa Ogunhive both say they’ve benefited from the school’s stricter cell phone policy.“I actually socialize more,” Ailyn said. “I actually pay attention.”Ailyn recalled her classmates used to avoid learning and doing their class work, instead relying on one student for answers to their assignments.Tiwa doesn’t complain about Seguin’s policy. She said the school is relaxed compared to what she’s heard about other districts like Grand Prairie ISD, which makes students lock their phones in bags.“That’s crazy,” Tiwa said. “Once you’re done with work, you’re just bored, and I feel like that’s gonna make them start sleeping in class, because they have nothing to do.”Ailyn thinks an overly strict phone ban would hurt students who use their phones in class to help take notes and record lectures, she said. In her dual credit class, she needs to record her professor, since he talks fast and can be hard to understand. The students’ skepticism toward stricter policies is in line with Principal Linson, who said he’s unsure whether other school districts’ lock-bag policies are worth the cost.Freshman students wait for the bell to ring at the end of their English class at Seguin High School on Sept. 13, 2024, in Arlington. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)Seguin High parents were generally supportive of the cell phone policy when school administrators rolled it out, Linson said. To cool parents’ potential safety concerns, the school prioritizes open communication with parents to reassure them Seguin is prepped for emergencies.Kerri Huynh’s two children attend Ashworth Elementary, which neighbors Seguin High School. Huynh wants to be in contact with her children and doesn’t like the idea of strict lock-bag policies, but she also feels students shouldn’t need their phone all day.“I’ve heard stories of kids walking out of class because their parents are calling them on their phone. Why are you calling your child during school when they’re supposed to be learning?” she said.Huynh’s children have multiple behavioral struggles and minor learning disabilities, so she understands why parents might prefer open communication, she said. But she tries to trust that her children’s teachers will communicate with her if any issues arise.Phillip’s parents prefer Seguin’s policy to his old school’s cell phone ban, he said. They can text him throughout the day between periods, whereas at his old school in New Orleans, responses could take hours.Florida became the first state to pass a law banning cell phones in public schools in May 2023. Since February 2024, 14 more states have signed laws requiring or incentivizing schools to write cell phone policies, according to Education Week. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath recently recommended lawmakers write a statewide phone ban. He argued cell phones distract students from learning.“If it were in my power, I would have already banned them in all schools in the state,” Morath said. “So I would encourage you to consider that as a matter of public policy going forward for our students and our teachers.”Huynh said her children need to learn self-discipline in their phone practices. As adults, they’ll be put in situations and work meetings where phones aren’t allowed, so a school’s phone policy could help them prepare.Seguin’s principal shares Huynh’s concern, but it keeps him from wanting a stricter cell phone ban. Once in college, students will be responsible for good in-class cell phone habits. A total ban on cell phones might harm their ability to learn self-control, Linson said.“It is our job as the school to teach kids the proper way to do things,” Linson said. “There’s a time and place for everything. There’s great times to be on your phone — you can check it and do TikToks and dance with your friends — but if we don’t teach them or give them the opportunities, how do they ever learn that?”Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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