Teachers and Students talk about the new phone policies in the 2025-2027 school year

A lot of teachers and students have many different opinions about the phone policy and feel certain ways about it. 

Ms. Ryswyk, a science teacher at Carter High School, said she “likes the phone policy because it allows students to stay engaged in the lesson without a distraction from their device.” In her own classroom, she said that if she “sees it out, it’s written up.” On the other hand, she offered that “having zero access to their phones at all during the day is a little extreme, but in the classroom it is reasonable.” 

at Carter High School Johana who talked about her opinion on the  phone policy. Her response was that she disagrees with the phone policy “because students should be trusted to manage their own phones.” She   also added, “Sometimes we need our phones for important messages or emergencies.” However, she agrees with not using phones in class, but that they should be able to use them between classes “When they don’t need to be paying attention.”

 Both teachers and students agree with students not using phones in class, but that the law “In Tennessee, state law requires local school boards to create policies that restrict student cell phone and wireless device use during classroom instructional time. Individual school districts and boards decide specific enforcement rules, discipline, and whether phones are permitted outside of class time or must be locked away all day.” also it should be loosened up for students to access their phones when they are not in the classroom.