Penn Hills High School getting rid of cellphones next school year
It’s in their pockets or hands, almost never out of their sight, but cellphones are having big impacts on children.
“For kids who are spending endless hours on social media it does seem to worsen anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms and interfere with sleep,” said Dr. Tony Mannarino, AHN’s chair of psychiatry and behavioral health.
It’s those reasons plus distractions to learning that Penn Hills High School is getting rid of cellphones in school starting next year.
“I believe that’s an obviously smart move,” said Gary Collins.
“I think smartphones should be banned but they should be able to have flip phones or something like that,” said Susan Robinson.
Superintendent Nancy Hines told Channel 11 each student will be given a pouch with a locking system for their phone. Only security and administration will have the tool to unlock the pouch for students at the end of each school day.
“We will be cooperative with families; they can use an old school telephone if they need to make contact with a family member or they can have the pouch opened so they can access their own device,” Hines said.
Hines knows the frustration of parents wanting to be connected to their kids, but she believes this change will help students reset away from technology.
“Unfortunately, a lot of that communication I think is negative. We know there are incidents of cyberbullying across the world, I’m sure. Do kids need to be exposed to that 24/7?” Hines said.
In fact, the middle school launched a similar program this school year that has worked. Hines hopes by adding in the High School it may cut down on opportunities for violence inside the building.
“Let’s say there is some tension between two students and then they start communicating and the kids are tempted to go see what’s going on if there is a planned exchange. They are going to gather because they already know and coordinated, and we don’t need that,” Hines said.
Again, this new process will not go into effect until the next school year.
Each student will receive their own pouch so they will have their phone with them just not usable. If the pouch is lost, the student will have to pay a replacement fee.
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