In an effort to prevent students from using their phones during class, the administration instituted a new policy: students must put their phones in one collective bin prior to every class. This is the wrong approach. 

The process of distributing the bin and having everyone hand over their phone delays the start of class. Likewise, students are slowed in leaving the classroom as they must navigate the foot traffic to recover their devices, often situated in the corner of a classroom. This wait leads to a cycle, in which students arrive at their following period after the starting bell.

The current phone policy should have been a final resort, not a general rule. Hence my proposal: if a student is caught using their phone three times in a semester (when the phone should’ve been on his desk or in that student’s backpack), then the student has to use the bin for the rest of the semester. One way for teachers to keep track of students’ records is to mark it on the attendance sheet with a simple P for phone. In mid-January, everyone will start from scratch, as is the case with Heschel’s new lateness policy. This provides a balanced approach that gives students the opportunity to prove their responsibility while giving teachers the ability to limit the redundancy of continuously telling students to put their phone away.