On Oct 8., Assistant Principal for School Life Quinn Killy sent out an email containing the new set of consequences for the 2025–26 phone policy.
After students violate the policy one time, their phone will be placed in the HS office for a day. After the second offense, students will be required to have a conversation with the HS administration, and the dean will send home a student update. The consequences ramp up in severity; after a fifth violation, students will have their phone and off campus privileges revoked for a month. If there are ongoing issues, a DCC hearing as well as a minimum of a one-day suspension from school will occur.
“We looked at what seemed to have worked last year, what seemed challenging, and got some feedback from DCC and from students at SSC,” Killy said.
Killy said in an interview with the Bit that, unlike last year, the DCC and suspension consequences would only be used if there were extreme circumstances, such as the offense happening simultaneously to another violation of school rules or expectations. Killy cited a student being disrespectful to a teacher as an example of what might lead to such consequences.
“Forgetting that you have your phone out is one thing, but four or five times, it’s no longer about us trying to work with you to help you follow the expectations,” he said. “It’s like now, this is a little more than just the phone; there’s something more going on here than just, ‘I’ve forgotten I have my phone out.’”
“Last year I didn’t have a gigantic problem with the phone policy and I felt like it was fine,” junior Jack Tidwell said. “I only got my phone taken once, personally. But this year, the new punishments just seem like an unnecessary step.”
Sophomore Brendon Chu said he thinks the HS office “shouldn’t need to make that much of a big deal to the point where they’re going to revoke your open campus privileges. I mean, that’s part of what makes GDS students actually feel free and what makes it unique here compared to other schools is that we actually get more freedom and we can actually move around.”
“I think the phone policy isn’t inherently wrong, but I think the consequences are too extreme when they should be teaching kids to live without their phone,” sophomore Nikki Smallwood said.
The new set of consequences isn’t the only change to the phone policy: The ban, which was previously in effect from 8:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., now goes into effect at 8:30 a.m..
Killy announced the change on Sept. 8 during the first Monday meeting of the year. “By the time it’s like 8:30, most people are here. It’s time to get settled into the day,” Killy said in an interview with the Bit.
Director of Student Community Programming Bobby Asher, a long-time advocate of the ban, said students and some faculty were in favor of the time change because they thought it would help mornings be less stressful.
“We wanted students to have a little more flexibility at the start of their days,” Interim High School Principal Chris Levy said in an email to the Bit.
Last year, Asher periodically met with a group of students and teachers to discuss their thoughts on the phone policy. “It felt that there was a strong and understandable enough movement from kids asking, ‘Can we talk about reducing the time a little bit? Because there are certain reasons that we actually need our phones, not just want,’” he said.
The administration decided on the change over the summer and implemented it at the start of the school year to make the transition easier. “Having spent three decades plus in schools, you have to make changes before the school year because it takes people a little while to get used to them, and then you don’t want to be making mid-year changes,” Asher said. “I don’t think it’s a drastic change. I think we’re always working around the edges and trying not to make wholesale changes that become alarming or disconcerting.”
“Honestly, I think [the change to the phone policy] didn’t make a huge difference,” sophomore Via Rieff said. “I think in the morning, people were on their phones, and they just weren’t caught.”
Rieff said she thinks a reminder to put phones away at 8:30 would be beneficial. “I’ve seen people get their phones taken—my friend the other day got hers taken at 8:33—and it’s just kind of annoying,” she said
“I would say overall the change has been very beneficial, but it’s still annoying that [the cut-off time] is not quite at the bell,” sophomore Felix Vogl said.
“I hope they are able to put more trust in us with our phones, so I hope they expand it to being where you just can’t use your phone in class, but you’re able to use it in the hallway responsibly. I feel like that makes the most sense to me, phone policy-wise. But I do understand it’s hard to build that trust,” junior Ava Comly added.
For now, Killy said the high school should not expect another change to the start time of the phone ban.
“We’ll probably leave [the phone policy] like this for a month or two and then gather some data and see if it seems to be working well,” Killy said. If when students put their phone away is “slowly migrating to 8:35 or 8:40, we’ll get a sense of, like, does it seem to be a positive thing? Does it seem like it’s not really necessary? And then we’ll make adjustments if needed.”