For the safety of students, cell phones this year will only be allowed for educational purposes and school staff will ask students to store their devices away.

“Administration started going through referrals and data, and a lot of cell phones were being used for online bullying, sending inappropriate pictures, and cheating,” assistant principal Linda Medley said.  

Students who fail to follow the new policy will be disciplined. The consequence for the first offense is detention. If the student gets in trouble a second time, they will be given in school suspension and his or her parent/guardian will have to pick up the device.

Sophomore Jaila Haley said she is very upset about the new phone policy.

“A  lot of students focus off of their music,” Haley said.

But sometimes students aren’t allowed to listen to their music because teachers think it distracts students.

Haley said she doesn’t understand why students are not allowed to have headphones in the halls and in the cafeteria during their own free time.   

“Students aren’t minding their business (otherwise),” she said. “They could be disturbing other classmates by being loud and noisy.”

Haley also said that she thinks the school environment will become more distracting if students can’t use phones.

According to CNN, the Journal of Pediatrics found increasing rates of depression, especially in girls, with use of mobile phones and texting apps. It has also been found that youth spend more time on social media than schoolwork.

Medley said safety issues caused a change to the phone policy that originally allowed devices more often with the idea that they would enhance education.

“Flour Bluff first started allowing cell phones to be used only for learning purposes and positive purposes,” she said. “They were also used to help students take pictures of homework or classwork.”

Administration decided to give students a grace period for the first two weeks of school. The grace period will end on Sept. 18. Students are going to be reminded to put their devices away. During the two weeks, staff and teachers will not be taking any electronic devices away.

Medley also said that students listening to music on their phones with headphones have became a big safety issue.

“We were having to tell kids to come here and take their headphones out,” Medley said. “Kids weren’t even paying attention while they were crossing Waldron Road. They either had their headphones in or were looking down at their cell phones the whole time.”