In an attempt to reduce distraction, Woodbridge High has implemented a new policy for the 2019-2020 school year: students must now place their phones in a storage bin at the beginning of class. 

In the Warrior Code of Conduct, rule 28 states that students may not use their cell phones between the hours of 8 a.m. and the final bell of the school day unless instructed for use during class time. The phone policy is only in place during class, and students are allowed to use their phones during passing periods as long as they store it in the classroom phone holder as soon as they enter the classroom.

 “[The policy] will stay as is indefinitely. I don’t see the phone policy changing [from the way it is now],” Assistant Principal Carlene McCurry said. McCurry was one of the leading motivators and influencers of this policy. While there might be slight changes in what the storage area looks like, the act of removing your phone and putting it in a storage area will not be changing. 

 “There really aren’t a lot of actual changes to the policy, except for the implementation of it,” McCurry said. “The research is showing that just having a phone in the classroom is becoming more and more of a distraction. We looked at the surrounding school districts in Orange County…we came up with [this policy] .”

Woodbridge has a very similar policy to other schools, including Corona Del Mar High School.  Many other schools in the area have started to change out their phone policies.

Some students like Luis Pena, a senior at Woodbridge don’t understand every aspect of the policy. 

“The phone policy is understandable in class but doesn’t make sense in tutorial,” Pena said. He believes that in a tutorial with no Chromebooks, a phone is needed to do homework. 

While some students don’t seem too pleased, many teachers appreciate the change.

“I think overall, [the phone policy is] good,” Frank Harrington said. “I’m pleasantly surprised students have kinda gone along with it.” He is happy for the new policy, because “people are addicted to their devices.” He said that if anything, he wants the phone policy to be more aggressive. He wants “phones taken away at the beginning of the day”, and to [hand them] back [to students] at the end of class.”

The Woodbridge High administration will be evaluating this policy throughout the year, but changes are not likely to be put into effect.