The start of a new school year is always filled with changes and this year that is even more true. From a new principal to a new cafeteria, WHHS underwent significant changes over the summer. However, one change has had a far greater impact than the rest: the new cell phone policy. 

Many students, especially Effies, are uncertain of what to do in a new environment where communication with home is somewhat restricted. There are many mixed feelings regarding the new policy, with several voices eager to weigh in on the new situation.

“I would much rather be able to have it [a cell phone] near me, so that if something did happen, I could access it, but it hasn’t affected me too much yet,” Ellis Klump-Lawson, ‘30 said. 

Students are having an increasingly difficult time communicating with home on simple matters such as school pickup and carpooling.

“My tennis game was canceled, so I had to go to the bathroom and text my mom to see if I still have to go to tennis because the game was canceled but the practice could still be on,” Bella Michael, ‘30 said.

The oncoming implementation of Yondr pouches complicates an already messy situation. For most students and parents, putting phones in Yondr pouches is a step too far.

“It would make us feel kind of worried because I need to know how to get home at the end of the day,” Michael said. 

In the event of an emergency, students are worried about the effectiveness of the school’s mass communication system.

“If it [an emergency] happened to the whole school, they [parents] wouldn’t get the message that something happened to me as quickly as if I [had] texted them,” Michael said.  

Students also fear simply communicating with their parents, should anything happen to them, which their parents should know about. 

“And if, God forbid, something did happen, like a shooter came in, if I was not able to talk to my parents and tell them that I was either okay or I love them because it might not be okay. I would never be able to forgive myself,” Klump-Lawson said. 

When asked how the new policy differed from their elementary school policy, students generally had the same response.

“You just had to keep them in your backpack,” Emilia Ostrander, ‘30 said.

Some students believe that Yondr pouches should not be the standard but rather a disciplinary action for students who do not comply with the new phone policy.

“I think they should use the Yondr pouches as a punishment, not as a regular thing, because if a seventh grader would use their phone responsibly and put it in their bag the whole class and put it away during a test, I don’t think that they would need a Yondr pouch,” Michael said.

Many Effies are upset due to the immediate assumption by the district that they will not be able to manage themselves.

“They never really gave the seventh graders a chance to show they’d be responsible with their phones,” Michael said.