How are phone violations looking this semester?

Although Phone Homes aren’t as full, fewer students are getting sent to the office

Lincoln McQuade, Reporter • February 28, 2025

This is the clear plastic box the office uses to store confiscated phones. It was completely empty in this picture, meaning that on that day, no student had a phone violation.

In the 2024-25 school year, Grand Junction High School began to enforce policies about phones being used in class.

Every classroom was set up with “phone homes”, which are wooden boxes that contain holders for cell phones. As students were walking into their classrooms, they were required to put their phones in these boxes.

“There’s a lot of research about how this generation spends hours and hours and hours on their phone and how it ties into their social and emotional wellness. Our district leadership has done a lot of research about the impact of phones on the teenage brain. The preliminary research is showing that when kids don’t have phones, grades go up, attendance goes up, and anxiety goes down,” said GJHS Assistant Principal Heather O’Brien.

A first violation of these phone rules means the offending student’s phone has been seen outside of the box by a teacher and will be confiscated by the office, and the student can get their phone back later. A second violation involves the student’s parents having to retrieve their phone and three days of lunch detention. A third violation involves the student’s parents having to retrieve their phone and the student facing one day of in-school suspension. Subsequent violations will involve the parent having to retrieve the student’s phone again and the student will have one day of out-of-school suspension.

“The phone policy was pretty strict in the first semester. It still is, but they were a lot harder on it in the beginning of the year,” GJHS junior Luke Lampitt said.

Following the fall semester, however, most phone boxes are empty. Despite this, many teachers say they have sent students to the office at far lower rates during the second semester of the 2024-2025 school year.

“I’ve busted fewer students, but does that mean phones aren’t there? No, it just means that students aren’t inclined to use them as much. The teachers like myself have also gotten more lenient,” said GJHS math teacher Nicholas Bietz.

The Mesa County Valley School District 51 phone policy was implemented in the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year by District Superintendent Brian Hill following months of research about how phones impact learning environments.

As of Feb 24, 2025, there were 265 first offenses of the phone rules, 35 second offenses, seven third offenses resulted and four fourth offenses. This information is according to GJHS secretary Kim Charlesworth.

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About the Contributor

Lincoln McQuade, Reporter

Lincoln McQuade is a GJHS junior. He is also a reporter for the Orange & Black newspaper. He loves playing guitar, watching baseball, and working out. He joined the Orange & Black in his junior year.