This year at BSM there is a new phone policy, having the students put their phones in a numbered holder. Although it gives a little more freedom with the cellphone, being able to use it in the hallway and lunch, there seems to be multiple reasons that there is chaos in the classroom.

Some teachers, such as French teacher Amy Jo Hyde, have assigned number spots for the students’ cell phones and she feels that it is important. “I do think it’s necessary because then you can see who has not put their phone in the pocket,” Hyde said.

Math teacher Abigail Ash has seen a decline in students putting their phones in the holder. Teachers think that because the underclassmen put their phones in the pockets that the upperclassmen also will. “Mostly in my older student classes…I assume that they’ll just put them in there, [otherwise] I don’t really catch them,” Ash said.

Teachers have seen some repeating patterns in excuses from students when they don’t have a phone in the holder. “I hear ‘I forgot it’ or ‘I left my phone in my locker’, which is not necessarily believable in the senior high for sure,” Hyde said.

Students have noticed that if the spot is assigned that the holder tends to have more phones due to the fact that some teachers take attendance with the phone slots and they don’t want to be marked absent. Also it is easier to notice a phone missing if the assigned spot is empty. “Yeah, I feel like [those are] the only classes I really put my [phone in] is when there’s an assigned slot for my phone,” senior Abby Garvin said.

Some students feel that the whole thing is annoying and students should be able to keep their phones on them. “I think students should be able to handle their phones on their own and phone pockets should not exist,” sophomore Lucas Wurst said.

Sophomore Bridget Wickner believes that students actually put their phones in if it’s assigned due to the fact that the teachers know exactly whose phone is missing. “If a teacher looks at [the holder] they know that it’s that kid that did put their cell phone in but if it’s not assigned then they don’t know whose it is,” Wickner said.