COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Students at St. Mary's Catholic High School in Colorado Springs must keep their cell phones turned off and put away for the day. The school adopted the new policy at the start of the year.
"It's a welcome change, for sure," said social studies teacher Katie Ghent. She noticed the transformation in student behavior right away.
"We're having longer attention spans, I can extend activities a little bit longer, and it's been really beneficial for them retaining information," Ghent said.
Principal Robyn Cross explained that the school used to ask students to put away phones in their backpacks without powering them down.
"They weren't. It was really in their pocket," Cross said. "And so, it was pulled out at every moment."
Away for the day means from bell to bell. The entire school day, including lunch, must be phone-free.
"The conversations last year used to revolve around I'm looking at a video, I'm going to talk about that," Cross said. "Now they're actually talking to one another in the hall without that."
The policy change was motivated, in part, by research presented in the documentary Screenagers which tracked lower academic performance and higher suicide risk in students who engaged in heavy amounts of screen time.
"We talk about the loneliness generation, well, why are they lonely," Cross said. "It's because everything they look at is on a screen. We can't sit and talk to one another because I'm on my phone and you're on yours, we see it everywhere."
Cross structured the policy at St. Mary on similar rules already in place at K-8 schools in the diocese.
"We're trying to help the student rely more, build more inner strength and less external gratification or acknowledgment," explained Superintendent Sheila Whalen.
In the process, the change has noticeably improved the learning environment.
"It creates like a really great community for the school and for each of our classes," said Ghent.
There is a tiered penalty structure for students who break the policy.
A first offense will generally come with a warning. The phone can be removed to the office where only a parent can pick it up on subsequent offense.
Both Cross and Ghent said enforcement has not been as challenging as they anticipated in August.
“I think I’ve had one cell phone go off all year," Ghent said. "And I just got a '‘I’m so sorry,' and then it was taken care of immediately.”
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