The administration will implement a new rule that requires every student to have to put their phones in a pouch for the entirety of class.

According to Dean of Students Peter Lenzini, the policy is in place because he thinks it will help students grow spiritually, academically, and as a community.

“There have been a number of studies, in which they take a pool of students with their phones and without their phones,” Lenzini said. “The students with their phones present, their long term memory was almost diminished.”

Lenzini has been researching student-phone relationships and the effects it has on the teenage mind. All his research is available on OnCampus.

“Mr. Lenzini has done a good job putting literature out there on that subject,” English teacher Robert Hutchison said. “I think it’s a great thing that we are going to ask all of us to be more intentional about how we are using classroom time.”

The policy applies to all four study hall grades, including in Emerson lobby and the Innovation Center.

“I don’t really know how I feel about it I think I use my cell phone to communicate and look up information,” Senior Michael Mullen said. “I think I could be worrying about not having my cell phone on me It would definitely impact my academic performance in a negative way just because I like to have it on me.”

All the students will leave their phones in a pouch for mass, all school assemblies and for class. But, students will be able to go on their phones in hallways, activity period, and lunch.

“It keeps the students more focused they aren’t texting their friends during class,” Senior Luke Janson said. “But I think in order to be used properly they need to follow the rules because right now no one does and it makes [the pouches] useless.”

If a student is found with a phone it is an automatic J.U.G.

“If only some teachers follow it and others don’t it breaks down,” history teacher Tom Sothers said. “It’s like any rule where if some teachers don’t follow it it becomes less legitimate.”