PARIS – When Maine School Administrative District 17 announced its new cell phone policy that requires that all students have their phones turned off in all buildings during school hours, response was mixed.

The majority cheered that it is a great idea. Some students predictably groused about having to be no contact and a few parents said they wanted to be able to communicate with their children at all times.

Predictably, some felt disconcerted or disconnected at first, but a few weeks in teachers – and students – report mostly positive benefits.

While in some school districts with new policies students have to keep their phones locked in tamper-proof bags, like in Farmington-based Regional School Unit 9, in Oxford Hills they are allowed to keep them on their person. They just need to be turned off.

“It’s going great,” Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Principal Paul Bickford told the Advertiser Democrat Sept. 24. “It’s having such a positive impact. It’s been noticeable from the start. Feedback I’m getting from teachers is that in the classroom there is less distraction and far more engagement.

“You can see it in the hallways and the cafeteria where kids are playing chess or card games, or just socializing with one another. It’s been positive across the board.”

Bickford added that kids are noticing a difference too, even if they may not be thrilled about it.

“The best part of the new policy is seeing students interact and engage in conversation,” said OHCHS social studies teacher Travis Palmer. “I stand outside in the hallway between every passing period, and I’ve seen almost every kid walking alongside a peer chatting. It feels like school again!”

“It’s been a very good thing,” senior Ronan Brown said. “Honestly, I think it keeps me and other students more accountable, and it’s almost nice to just have that break.

“There are some communications struggles, like for sports when our coach has to text us about stuff. But otherwise it’s been a positive experience. I think it’s a really great move that the school’s made.”

Students are allowed to use their school-issued devices for email communications during the day.

During SAD 17’s Sept. 2  school board meeting, just a few days into the academic year, OHCHS Student Representative Oleana Laganas had her own take, telling directors she had, and saw, trouble adjusting at first.

“There are some benefits and drawbacks,” the junior said. “A lot of students, there was rebellion about it. Some were upset with the social aspect of it. 

“It’s supposed to help with engagement to each other. But in the building with everyone on different schedules, it’s really hard to find people. That’s one of the hardest things I’ve experienced is finding people. I don’t know where anybody is.”

As everyone listening smiled, Board Chairman Troy Ripley of Paris asked if she was okay not knowing where everyone was all the time.

“Yes, but at times I end up eating lunch alone because I can’t find anybody,” she replied, laughing. “That’s the majority of what I’ve heard about, personally. Some of it is also just checking the time, but there are clocks around the building.

“We did all make it.”

Laganas provided an update on cell phones at the school board’s next meeting Sept. 15.

“There’s been a lot less pushback,” she shared during her student representative’s report. “There have been a lot less phones taken and fewer complaints about not being able to be on their phones.”

Bickford said during the first week educators and staff would confiscate as many as 40-50 phones from students who couldn’t resist the itch to text or scroll. But a couple weeks later, most days the number who have to stop at the main office at the end of the day to retrieve their devices has dwindled to single digits.

“The students are talking more,” OHCHS English teacher Ian Truman said, indicating the policy is having the desired effect on students. “They are engaging with each other. They also are looking to me to start class, instead of being on devices right up until the bell. 

“I also hear a lot of good noise, loud lunch rooms, laughter – what we used to have before the phones.”