By Hannan Zeyde and Akiva Bryant
Every year a new rule is enforced at the Academy, and this year it’s the phone policy. Many schools in Atlanta and the Atlanta area have taken on this new policy where students and administration are not allowed to be on their phones from the beginning of the school day until it ends. This confused some students, given that last year the only rule that applied to phones was that they could not be out in academic buildings, and even that was only debatably enforced. Due to this, the policy–no cell phones during the day at all–has been hard to adjust to for some students. Recent news of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, GA, hasn’t helped. Instead it has raised some students’ concerns on contacting students throughout the day.
WA staff and students have a lot of opinions on this new rule, such as Tuesday Crawford ‘25.
“I think it’s a good rule,” Tuesday said. “But I also think that if you need to contact your parents, especially in emergencies you need to be able to use it.”
Many people would agree that phones were a distraction around the school last year, but there are some questions pertaining to the emergency side of it. Upper School Dean Luke Underwood, shares his insight on this matter.
“If that happened last year (leaving school due to an emergency), parents still had to go through the front desk and check you out and you would swing by there,” Dean Underwood said. “I am also well aware that iMessage still works on all these laptops and email still works, so parents can send you messages. It’s just maybe not as attached as it once was.”
Likewise, Dean Thomas also supports the policy, and knows that, even during an emergency, phones will not be an issue.
“The vast majority of our community understands the importance of having our students focused during the school day,” Dean Thomas said. “There are always questions about emergencies, but we are well versed in our emergency protocol and procedures. There’s never a case where a student won’t be able to contact their parents in the case of an emergency.”
So far, both deans reported having received only positive claims from parents about this policy.
Earlier today, Dr. Gulley released an email emphasizing the importance of our community and the measurements put in place to keep students safe in case of an emergency.
Gabby Harrison ‘25 also shares her thoughts on the phone policy.
“I believe the phone policy is a beneficial rule put in place to encourage students to connect with each other outside of social media,” Gabby said.
