Honestly, I never thought I would be writing this article, but I believe it’s unreasonable that we can’t even have our phones in our pockets. Here I am, writing this piece. You can’t tell me we’re doing something wrong if a phone is sitting in my pocket; it’s not like we’re doing backflips or throwing our phones in anyone’s face. (If you’re getting upset about this article, you might just be the reason I wrote it.) Don’t get me wrong —I understand the need to take our phones away when we’re using them —but keeping them in our pockets seems unnecessary and inappropriate.
I asked four people for their opinions on this topic, and here’s what they said:
1. The first person said, “No, you should not have your phone taken away if it’s just sitting in your pocket. No man or woman should be checking you at all, even just to see if you have a phone in your pocket.”
2. The second person stated, “No, the staff should not take away your phone if it’s sitting in your pocket. As long as you’re not using it, they should leave it alone.”
3. The third person added, “No, it’s not appropriate for staff to check and see if you have a phone in your pocket. You shouldn’t have your phone taken away if it’s not out.”
4. The fourth person expressed, “I wish staff would try something like that with me; if they did, I would call them out for looking at a minor and call my parents.” This came from a student, while the others were a parent and staff members
I believe the only reason staff should check a student’s pockets is if there’s probable cause to suspect they have something they shouldn’t have on school grounds. Otherwise, staff should not be checking students’ pockets. Yes, I know many staff members will quote the school cell phone policy, which states that students should keep their phones in their backpacks at the beginning and end of the period. However, it also says that phones should be “away and out of sight.” If a phone is in a pocket, isn’t that out of sight enough? I also understand the argument that “if there’s a family emergency, your family can contact the school.” Most likely, families don’t want to contact the school because they may feel uncomfortable, but whoever bought you the phone should be able to contact you whenever they need to.
I hope this article reaches the right people because, honestly, as a student at PHS, some staff members seem overly invested in their jobs. Taking away a student’s phone just because it’s not in a backpack isn’t helping to improve the education system, nor does it benefit anyone involved. I hope that the next student this happens to will question the school about why we can’t have our phones in our pockets.
