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Math teacher at Alexander High School has her phone sitting on her desk. There's a drink next to it along with pencils and paper next to it.
Students aren’t allowed to have their phones in class, and Alexander High School teacher Megan McElligott says phones are less of an issue this year. [Alison Patton | WOUB]

Most students at Alexander Local Schools say they follow the new no-phones policy, and even those who sometimes don’t still see benefits

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ALBANY, Ohio (WOUB) – Phones have made everything more convenient. You can find information and answers at the tap of a finger, or you can have instant communication just by speaking the name of a friend or colleague to Google or Siri. 

So long as you’re not a student in class at Alexander Local Schools between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. 

The school district started a new no-phones policy in August, and students are supposed to put their phones in their lockers at the beginning of the day.  

“Sometimes you will just forget to put it in your locker,” said Isaac Waller, a senior at Alexander High School, who said he usually follows the new rule. 

But not everyone does — students like Reagan Wandling, a junior who uses her phone throughout the day, mostly to check social media, but hasn’t been caught on the device. 

“Definitely in the beginning of the year, I wasn’t on my phone at all,” she said. “Saying every class period would be a bit of a stretch, but I do use it kind of often.”

Last spring, Gov. Mike Dewine signed a law requiring schools to put a formal phone policy in place. The Alexander Local Schools superintendent worked with other schools to adopt a similar policy throughout Athens County.

At first, Alexander Junior and High School Principal Lee Raines was skeptical about the policy. 

“I was thinking that this could have waited a year because this is going to be a miserable year trying to get that convinced, and it’s been totally the opposite for our kids,” Raines said.

A student's hands are visible. The student is holding a pen in one hand and a graphing calculator in the other. Other school supplies are resting on the desk under the student's hands.
Students at Alexander Local Schools follow a no-phones policy in class but some sneak in phone time anyway. [Alison Patton | WOUB]
Teachers have also noticed the difference. 

“Last year it was a battle everyday, almost every single period,” math teacher Megan McElligott said. “The kids have done a really nice job here of making that behavior shift.” 

McElligott said she’s only taken two phones since the beginning of the school year, and it was mostly someone checking the time. 

“I’ve never caught anybody on Snapchat or Insta,” she said. “It’s definitely not the same issue that we had.” 

If a teacher catches a student with their phone during class, in the hallway or at lunch, the student must turn the device off and take it to the office. If they get caught a second time, it’s a detention. A third time, a parent must pick up the phone. 

There are 650 students at Alexander Junior and High Schools, and about 75 of these kids have gotten in trouble with their phones with a total of 100 infractions. Some students have three to four infractions, and one student has five. 

Last year, students did a study as part of a class project on how much time high schoolers spend on their phones during school hours. The average high schooler had about a two-hour screen time, with the top apps being social media. 

Now that students are under the no-phones policy, some students are starting to see the benefits. 

“My grades have improved a lot from last year,” Wandling said. “Because I actually have to pay attention.” 

There are still some students who just want their phones. 

“Some people do say straight up, like, I’m not giving you my phone, and then it can turn into a little bit of a whole thing,” Waller said.