Revere High School has updated its policies regarding cell phones and bookbags for the 2023-2024 school year due to space and focus issues in the classroom.
In the past, students could carry their book bags from class-to-class with minimal trips to their lockers. This year students cannot carry their backpacks and instead may visit their lockers more, or they are able to carry a drawstring bag. Principal Andy Peltz explained these changes.
“During COVID-19, we allowed a little more flexibility with backpacks, so we’re just going back to our original policy,” Peltz said.
Peltz said that the administrators discussed these changes with the Faculty Advisory Committee and District Leadership Team, who approved these changes to accommodate the Vision of the Minuteman. The committee also advised the administrators on how to create clearer guidelines when enforcing phone and book bag rules in classrooms.
In recent years, the population of the school has increased. After noticing these changes, assistant principal Doug Faris turned to the superintendent and board of education to combat these issues.
“If you look at the lunchroom, you have 290 kids in the lunchroom. And last year, with those backpacks, it was very, very crowded. The committees really asked us to start to look at a different way of [enforcing bookbags],” Faris said.
Peltz also said that the administration is trying to get students more organized by using durable skills, which are skills that help students stay focused on one task at a time and help them stay organized. When students carry around bookbags, they can get distracted easily by the other items in their bookbags.
“One of our goals this year is to help students with what’s known as durable skills, and part of it is organizing yourself, making sure you prioritize what you need at that time, staying focused only on one task at a time,” Peltz said.
The school has offered alternatives to backpacks, such as drawstring or tote bags. Students are able to purchase bags in the office for two dollars. School Resource Officer Scott Dressler, agreed with Peltz and Faris when discussing space issues that happen with bulky backpacks.
“They’re still allowed to carry the drawstring bags, which, you know, you can have quite a bit of stuff in the drawstring,” Dressler said.
In addition to bookbags, rules about phones have been updated, teachers can create their own rules in terms of phone usage in their classroom. Some teachers allow students to use their phone during free time, while others prefer to use phone caddies.
“There [are] times where I don’t mind if a kid wants to plug in their music and get to work on an art project or something along those lines,” Faris said.
Additionally, administrators will support teachers with discipline issues regarding phones. If a student breaks the rules of a teacher, Peltz and Faris will support the teacher’s policy.
“If there’s a consistent problem with a kid not [following rules], then as we talked with the teachers, that’s insubordination and failure to comply with class rules. So we will back the teacher 100% on that one,” Faris said.
To tackle these issues, administrators and the Board of Education have decided to enforce rules about phones strictly, while also realizing that students should be able to use their phones in between classes and during lunch.
“The use of cell phones for plagiarism and cheating, along with some of the negative impacts of social media and distractibility seem to be across the board,” Peltz said.
Though it is early in the year, Peltz, Faris and Dressler have all said that they have not had any disciplinary issues related to cell phones, which achieves the goal of the administration. Peltz and Faris hope that the changes help students focus on their schoolwork without the distraction of phones and bookbags.
