MCPS has been under the spotlight for its updated cell phone policy for the 2025-2026 school year. This includes the tighter restrictions on cell phone use for middle and high schoolers and the new “Away All Day” policy.
Teachers have been cracking down on cell phone usage with the use of cell phone caddies. Students have assigned numbers which they are required to put their phones in before the start of class and are able to collect it after. Other teachers use a warning system. For example, some students in a class of mine were called out for hiding a phone under their desks. They received warnings for it and one of them had their phone taken for the duration of class.
Phone caddies do not make a difference in usage as most students do not put their phones in their assigned caddy. Most teachers do not enforce this rule as it isn’t even required for students. This clearly limits the effectiveness of the policy, since teachers also have no way of checking whether or not their students have their phones with them.
The ineffectiveness is also carried onto the use of non-MCPS-issued devices, as they are currently not allowed in the county. Students should be allowed to use non-MCPS-issued devices, because some websites that are blocked on MCPS devices can then be accessed. Signing into their account on some devices also installs the extensions with them, which still gives MCPS control over them. For example, I have my account signed into my computer at home, and it has the extensions pre-installed on that specific account and not others, which blocks websites. This keeps them engaged; however, some educational websites that are blocked cannot be used.
According to an MCPS article on cell phone regulation, students will not be allowed to have their devices on their persons in order to stay focused, engaged and to provide fewer distractions during instruction. However, students not being allowed to have their devices with them during school hours would increase the risk of restricted communication with parents/guardians in the case of an emergency.
A solution to this would be for students to have their phones with them, but to have them away and out of sight. This would make students feel safer as it allows them direct access to their parents/guardians in case of an emergency. These could range anywhere from shelter in place to evacuations.
As we enter the school year, teachers are required to enforce this new policy. However, as the year goes on, students and teachers will just eventually stop following these policies and it will just go back to how it was last year. This policy will lose purpose, as the consequences are not that severe.
