Admin tightens phone policy for AY24-25, citing mental health concern
For the first time in years, St. Louis U. High has made a change to its tech policy.
Students, if caught with their phone out without permission during the school day, will now have to immediately hand it over to the teacher that caught them. They will then walk it down to Assistant Principal for Student Life Brock Kesterson’s office, and three JUGs will be given to the student per the original policy. The student will then have to check his phone in at the office at the start of the school day for the next eight weeks.
Additionally, headphones are not allowed anywhere in the building unless permitted by an adult. '“One of the things that I think is important for us as a school to do is to be counter-cultural,” said Kesterson. “The fact that students are so locked into those phones so frequently, if we can give guys a break from 8:25 to 3:07 every day, I think it’s a healthy way to go about it.”
This is a large shift from the previous policy that merely threatened a punishment of three JUGs for being caught with a phone; while wearing headphones, though technically not allowed, was scarcely ever punished.
“We’ve ramped it up a little bit even more this year because of the mental health issues that we believe have come from this. We spent some time this summer reading The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt,” said Kesterson. “The research is showing now too, just the mental health issues that can come from screen time and social media addiction are something that we wanted to address, and that’s why we’ve taken the next steps.”
The Anxious Generation discusses how a rise in smartphone usage and overprotective parenting have contributed to a rise in mental illness and a drastic reshaping of childhood; the book was a driving factor behind the new phone policy for SLUH. The administration felt that the time was ripe to acknowledge the cost of putting phones in the hands of children, especially in terms of mental health.
“(The book) basically says the way we have approached the virtual world and technology with people ten years old to 18 years old has been negligent. The way the adults in the world have set these things up, which effectively is with no guardrails at all,” said Principal Matthew Stewart, S.J. “It’s like how you’ve got to be 13 to have an Instagram account, but there are lots of kids younger than that, because they say they're that age. If I went to the store and said, ‘I'd like a bottle of vodka,’ they would say, ‘Let me see your ID.’ You don't have anything like that in the virtual space.”
“All these things are designed to keep you on longer—Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have algorithms assigned to show the right videos so you just get caught in that scrolling motion and you’re absorbed into their world, and you’re no longer in your world. We’re trying to get you guys back into your world,” said Director of Security Dan Schulte.
Another driver was inconsistencies in enforcement of the original phone policy.
“I think they are hoping teachers will adhere to what the policy has been: giving three JUGs when they discover a phone,” said theology teacher Mike Lally. “I think in actuality, some teachers struggle at the moment with executing that written policy.”The new policy has seen varying acceptance by the student body. After its announcement at the convocation, many have reacted positively to Stewart’s message, but others feel weighed down by another rule, fearing the problem may only be exacerbated.
“I feel like it’s a bit much. I understand where they’re coming from, trying to limit the use of phones, but having to put your phone away for eight weeks and trying to get your phone after school with the JUG line already existing, it’s gonna be way bigger and just another problem,” said senior Jakob White.
“At a military camp this summer, going without my phone for six whole weeks was amazing,” said senior Greyson Mueller. “I felt more present each day, and I didn’t feel the constant need to check my phone. It was really refreshing. But it only works if everyone participates. If everyone is doing it together, then no one feels left out or has any urge to check their own phone. It forces us to be together and to live in the moment. I like the idea of the new policy, but it needs everyone to participate for it to work.”
“I thought it was a bit strict, but I think it’s fine. I leave my phone in my locker anyways, so I think it’s good,” said senior Jacob Grijalva. “We were talking about in theology how mental health dropped dramatically when smartphones came around.”
In fact, the technology conversation has been sparked in many classrooms at SLUH this past week. Many teachers have been very receptive to the administrative effort to advance not only the policy, but the reasoning behind it.
“I don’t get many rounds of applause, but when I announced this at the faculty meeting over the summer, I got a rousing ovation from the faculty,” said Kesterson. “I think they want this too. So if this is something we want, we gotta do it in a consistent manner.”SLUH’s phone policy is very different from many in the St. Louis area. Almost all public schools allow phones, but even Catholic schools much like SLUH—Cor Jesu Academy, Ursuline Academy, and De Smet Jesuit—don’t restrict phone usage during lunch or free/study periods.
“I think we need to be radical if we believe in doing what is best for the health and happiness of our students,” said Lally. “I think you could look at the opposite way, and say the presence that technology has in our lives is quite radical in and of itself. So rather than looking at the policy as radical, what we're trying to do is combat a sort of epidemic of both mental health and attention. It has to do with being able to focus, being able to read, being able to be present to each other, being able to be spiritually quiet. These are all the radical problems presented by the present technology. Radical problems require radical solutions.”
With the administration in a tighter grip, students have been less prone to breaking SLUH’s no-tolerance phone policy. So far, only six students have been penalized by the policy, all cases in the Si Commons at the hands of Schulte during Activity Period or lunch.
“They’re all great kids … the first one I got, it hurt me to have to enforce it,” said Schulte. “But what kind of fraud would I be if to the first guy I found, I said, ‘No, not you?’”
“I think it’ll definitely be more effective,” said junior Wilson Scher. “They’re using a scare tactic with the eight weeks of turning it in every morning. That’s gonna work.”With the policy hot off the press, the question of a long-term solution to the way that cell phones have been radically integrated in the lives of American teenagers—and Jr. Bills—is still here to stay for the moment.
“The zero tolerance that we’re talking about I think is the beginning of moving towards maybe not even having them at all at some point,” said Kesterson.
“I don't know the right answer to what the policy should be,” said Stewart. “I think as a school, what our hope is for this year is to spend some time really thinking about and studying that question, so that we don't just read a book and then apply it here. Let's figure out the best way for our community to do this.”