Mesa County Valley School District 51’s current cell phone policy for high schools states that no phones are allowed in the classroom during class time, but this may be subject to change.
This policy was enacted for all high schools in the district at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year.
The policy states that if a student’s phone is out in class it will be taken, with multiple offenses resulting in an out of school suspension.
An email sent by D51 Superintendent Dr. Brian Hill to district staff on Jan. 26 said that the district’s high schools could possibly benefit from adopting the same cell phone policy as middle school and elementary schools. This policy states that when a student enters the school building their phone cannot be out, including during passing periods and releases.
“One big benefit would be, it would cut down on cell phone use in class. So currently we have students that choose not to follow our current policy… So if phones are never allowed anywhere in the building, it would likely reduce that,” said GJHS principal Jory Sorensen.
D51 staff was requested in the email by Hill to take a survey on whether adopting a new cell phone policy would be helpful or not.
Sorensen said he believes that if cell phones were not allowed anywhere in the school building, then the opportunity for phones to be a distraction will be at a minimum.
“I think it is a little far-fetched for high schoolers not to bring their phones to school at all because of lack of communication while they are in school,” said GJHS attendance secretary Michelle Umberger.
For middle schools and elementary schools, the phone policy does not allow students to be on their phone while they are on school campus altogether. Any possible change to the cell phone policy does not have a specific date, the idea has only been proposed for consideration at this point by Hill.
“I think it is a safety hazard because if there’s an emergency and children cannot contact the parents it’s definitely gonna be an issue,” said GJHS senior Camdyn Rangel.
