In the Spring of 2025, BCCHS principal Nolan Trafton surveyed staff, students, and parents in order to collect feedback on how to address cell phone usage in classes going forward. He relayed that “100% of the teachers agreed that cellphones had become a distraction in the classroom and that a new policy was needed. More than 80% of parents also agreed that student cell phones really don’t have a place in the classroom, especially during instruction. And then 20% of students said that cell phones don’t have a place in the classroom within instruction—but over 60% of students said it should be up to the teacher’s comfort level.”
Since implementing a new policy, the administration has been pleased not only with its results but also with students’ reactions to it, saying reactions have been “nothing but positive. We’ve had very, very little issues with disobedience. Students are following it tremendously, and I really appreciate that…student feedback. I haven’t heard a ton of complaints.”
Wyatt Swain, a senior at BCCHS, expressed a different viewpoint, saying, “I have felt pretty negative towards the new cell phone policy. I’m not saying that students should have the right to be on them all the time, but having to put it up at the start of every class has become a process that every student dreads. I think no phones would be fine, but there are better ways to go about it.”
Teachers across the country have voiced concerns over the distraction of constant notifications as well as their students’ cellphone addiction taking away from valuable educational time. Sharing her own experience, Kari Adams, BCCHS’s art teacher shared that, “I feel like that notification goes off, and internally that anxiety rises. You’re like, oh, what’s going on?…And it takes your train of thought totally away.” Similar grievances contributed to the decision to use “Phone Caddies”, a facet of the new policy where students are required to put their phone into the caddy at the beginning of class and are not allowed to have it back until the end of class.
Trafton believes that “Out of sight, out of mind is a healthy balance between, if there was an emergency [students’ phones] are there, but they’re out of sight for educational purposes, which is 99.9% of the time when you’re in the classroom.”
Once “Phone Caddies” were officially decided on, the school provided an open-top, wooden box with slots to each teacher. Some teachers even opted for a lockbox, which cuts off access to students’s phones entirely. The reasons for this, according to Adams, were, “I think its more portable and it’s easier to go [in case of emergency]…They don’t want to deal with kids walking up and trying to sneak it out when they’re going to the bathroom or it’s just, I’m just gonna lock it away so I don’t have to think about it.”
But locked or unlocked, the student body’s general sentiment has ranged from indifference to strong dislike. Although, Trafton has said that while students may have some negative feelings towards the new policy, “Consistency has helped students accept it more: if they know that every single classroom they’re going into that that’s the expectation, regardless of what classroom their friends are in, they’re also doing the same thing, the FOMO is less of an issue.”
Swain, however, mentioned that “not having my phone in class has led me to go on it more at home because I need to ‘catch up’ on things I may have missed at school.” He said that this was more related to entertainment than communication, suggesting students still felt as though they were missing out on a key component of what they use their phones for, leading them to use them more outside of school. However, despite this increased usage, Swain admitted he uses his phone significantly less each day than last school year.
Limited phone usage itself is not necessarily the benefits the school is seeking. Less concerned about screen time and more about the affects of it, Trafton said, “we believe that removing a distraction can increase academic growth, but also that there’s the family spirit aspect of the mission and fostering new relationships and conversations…When I step into the classrooms and walk by, even those last five minutes of the class period, I love what I’m seeing there, [students interacting] as opposed to twenty faces down on screens.”
It is important to remember, though, that students often enjoy interacting through technology. Swain said that “it [cell phone usage in class] didn’t affect my academics but it definitely made social time more enjoyable because playing games with my classmates was always fun.”
He also relayed that “when classes are less productive at times, I have found that the new cell phone policy has made me feel bored because I can’t use my phone.” Trafton, on the other hand, hopes that this extra time can be used for more productive matters, mentioning that “we have the most active student population of any school in the state of Montana. So, giving that gift of time, even if it’s a quick five or ten minutes, I think we’re communicating to the students that that is valuable time that you can be using.”
Ultimately, a large change in school policy on such a sensitive issue was a near guarantee to bring different viewpoints to a head. But as students adjust and the administration and faculty take note of the effects of the new policy, BCCHS joins thousands of schools across the country grappling with a balance of how to address technology in an academic setting.
