It has been a few weeks since the beginning of the 2024-25 school year and a few weeks of Canyons  district new phone policy in action. The New Attendance and Personal Electronics Policy (as seen here: https://ahs.canyonsdistrict.org/attendancepolicy/) has left students with mixed feelings.

Some students believe that the policy is fair and that students should focus more on school work, while other students believe that the policy is too strict and that it could lead to more disobedient behavior in students. Quite a few students are somewhere in between, believing the policy isn’t bad but that it could cause more harm than good.

 “I believe it is affecting (grades) positively,” Logan Nelson said when asked about how the policy has affected his grades. 

It seems that this is generally true with most students, as most are now paying more attention in class and earning better grades with this policy’s enforcement. However, this isn’t always true. 

 “This kid was on his phone the whole time we were watching the Hunger Games,” reported Tobin Morgan when asked if he had seen somebody break the policy recently. “But he never got in trouble for it.”

Many students have reported seeing similar incidents in their classrooms.  It is something that is bound to happen, as some students simply don’t care about the policy and will stay on their phone anyway. Teachers are trying to enforce the policy, but they can’t be everywhere at once. 

“I feel like it could maybe be a little bit less enforced.” says Devin Niebuhr, and this perspective seems to be the most popular viewpoint.  Advisory is the class most students believe where the policy is too strict. 

The perspective from parents and administration is overwhelmingly positive. “Parents have been calling the administration and saying how much they appreciate the policy,” said Assistant Principal Kory Crockett. “Teachers are reporting increased engagement in learning.”

It’s still early in the year and it seems students may be forming a more neutral stance on the policy. Some aspects of it are not necessarily bad, but others say there should be a small amount of leniency in where the policy is enforced.  We will have to see how the policy holds up as the school year continues.