School phone ban kicks in for term 2
Focus, break time phone use and resentment are on the minds of Hamilton students as schools around the country enforce cellphone bans.
Yet the principal at Fairfield College said the school was “not dealing with a lot of defiance”.
From term two, Government policy requires schools to have a phone ban with exemptions possible on grounds including health or disability.
Reece Zimmerman, 17, is at Fairfield College, and says a girl in his class has an exemption and is getting a hard time.
“There’s been issues there with the other kids getting annoyed that she was allowed to use a phone and they weren’t,” Zimmerman said.
“They would complain about it even after she explained she had an exemption, they said it wasn’t fair.”
For him, the cellphone policy is a good idea overall but has been poorly executed.
“The no phones at lunch is a big one, and I also don’t think the ban should be completely from school grounds. I think it makes more sense for them to be powered off during the day.
“It’s useful to be able to contact parents on break, or just before the end of the day.”
Initially he was “annoyed” by the ban, but he has gotten used to it.
This is how most students at Fairfield College have reacted, said principal Richard Crawford.
“We went through the consultation process because it was quite a significant change in policy. Overall the students have been really responsive. Prior to that they did have some concerns, but we’re not dealing with a lot of defiance. Most students have just got on with it.”
Resentment towards exempt students shouldn’t be an issue, he said, and nothing had been brought to his attention so far.
“It’s not like they have their phones out in class and are using them, it’s more just that they have them if they need to contact certain people during the breaks.
“We’ve got 12 exemptions, and they’re all health related.”
“Overall we’ve been able to manage it well.”
Not much has changed in terms of Fairfield’s phone policy anyway, Crawford said. Previously their policy was that students could have their phones in their bags, but there was to be no access to them in classrooms.
However it’s still a hassle to have phones at lunchtime, said Zimmerman. His friend Izaak Janssen, also a 17-yearold at Fairfield, agreed.
“I noticed with me personally I’ve been able to learn a bit better without my phone. I used to get a bit distracted,” Janssen said.
“But I feel like they should be allowed during lunchtimes. I don’t see any longterm beneficial reason to not have them during lunch.”