Senior Riley Zimmerman scrolls on her phone, lighting up the room, a sight that many teachers saw before the phone policy was implemented. (Charlie Meyers )

The Facts of the Phone Policy

The National Problem

Heading into the school year,  an increasing number of states are implementing state-wide cell phone bans in schools ranging from Arkansas, to California to Delaware.

Many education and congressional leaders suggest that cellphone bans help mitigate youth mental health concerns and distractions during instructional time in the classroom according to KFF. Recent recommendations from UNESCO, detailing the benefits of limiting cell phone use in schools, have incentivized the resurgence of cell phone bans.

While many schools have seen bipartisan support from administrators and parents, research on the effectiveness of cell phone bans is limited in these trial stages of implementation, and enforcement challenges continue to persist with apprehensive teenagers who are not used to working without their phones. 

According to a CBS report, high school students in Kansas City’s Ewing Marion Kauffman school had to put their cell phones in a lock box when they entered their classrooms, keeping their devices away for the day.

The school found that the policy helped to limit distractions, assist with social development and create community at the school. 

The results of this ban have led to about 76% of public schools prohibiting the non-academic use of smartphones during school hours, according to the National Center for Educational Studies. 

On the other hand, some school districts in the country find that a ban may be too complicated and difficult to enforce. 

According to Politico, cell phone bans started around 2021, with restrictions concentrated in early grades for roughly three-quarters of public schools. Now, bans have worked their way up into secondary education and will continue to lock down on prohibiting these distractions. 

The changing landscape of phone restrictions has influenced Clayton, manifested in what students and teachers call “The Phone Policy.” 

Clayton’s Take on The Policy

The implementation of a phone policy has been consistently discussed annually, yet this year was the pilot year for enforcement.

“As we had conversations with faculty and staff, particularly after we returned from COVID and were returning to what I would call normal operations, cell phones were increasingly seen as a distraction for students in the classroom,” Principal Dan Gutchewsky said. “The faculty were expressing some frustration over pervasive cell phone use.”

There were several causal factors for the implementation of the phone policy, the most prominent of which is the blatant misuse of phones in the classroom, which has complicated teaching.

“There wasn’t any specific incident,” Gutchewsky said. “It was just a general feeling among faculty members that it was an ongoing issue throughout a lot of classrooms.”

For many years, teachers have become increasingly concerned with the abuse of devices in classrooms. The school recognized that something needed to change.

“[The phones] became an issue about seven, eight years ago, when everybody had smartphones, and everybody had stuff to check: Snapchat, streaks, scheduling rides or lunch and it just became a distraction,” Honors Chemistry and BioMed teacher Doug Verby said. “It got to the point where I’ve taught too long to argue with a 16 or 17-year-old about their phone. If they’re going to be in class, they’re going to pay attention.”

For Spanish teacher Dorotea Lechkova, the issue began after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“My first year teaching high school was 2019, and the phones were never an issue,” Lechkova said. “But, it’s also different because every year, a different generation of students have a different relationship with technology, and COVID accelerated those trends.” 

To combat this issue post-COVID, Lechkova created a system to maintain her pupils’ attention and force students to care about staying off their phones in class. 

Her solution was a box called the “Hotelephono,” designed to keep students away from their devices in class. Students received one warning if they were on their phones, and any additional offenses resulted in the confiscation of their device into the “Hotelephono.”

However, Lechkova realized that her solution was causing more distraction than good, and she struggled to find a way to keep students from checking their phones. 

“So, with the hotelephono, I started off thinking, you have one free warning, and on your second warning, your phone goes in the hotelephono. However, it very quickly turned into me just monitoring and constantly being like, this your first warning or second warning, and it took energy away from me teaching,” she said. “It was disruptive because your attention is still divided that way, and I don’t think it was as effective as I had hoped.” 

Prior to the phone policy, teachers devised their own solutions to address the issue, which frequently varied in effectiveness.

“When you have all those different uses and interpretations, it can lead to inconsistency of enforcement,” Gutchewsky said. “That’s one of the bigger challenges we’ve continued to revisit with staff members.”

While most students approached the policy with discontentment and frustration, Gutchewsky still acknowledged some necessary uses of phones in teachers’ curricula and ensured the phone policy allows phones to be used if the teachers permit it.

“Some classes use it for legitimate educational purposes like digital photography,” Gutchewsky said. “Years ago, we used to give students little disposable cameras. The quality of the camera in a smartphone far outpaced anything that we could reasonably afford for 80 or 100 kids.”

Verby noted the importance of taking a wider approach to the expectations surrounding phones post-COVID.

“You can’t have functional classrooms with young students on their phones. If you look around at the teachers during PD days, most people are messing around on their phone. People in the general population are just addicted to their phones,” Verby said. “If we’re going to be responsible for educating kids, we need to ensure they’re paying attention. Using the phone with unrestricted use simply cannot provide an educational experience for high school students. It just can’t.” 

According to AP Psychology teacher David Aiello, the school has implemented relatively few policies compared to others. For instance, some schools have extensive student policy manuals, requiring several days at the start of the school year to familiarize students with these rules and their consequences.

“The philosophy was, let’s focus on catching kids doing the right things and assume that most kids are going to and then deal with a few recalcitrant kids who don’t live up to those expectations,” Aiello said. “I’ve been a big fan of that.” 

Gutchewsky confirmed that the school’s lenient policies are intentionally created to convey the essential values. 

“I’m hoping to reinforce [the] time and place [principle] and teach self-control. To an extent, this is what we’re all about, whether it be open campus or the cell phone policy,” Gutchewsky said. “Our message has been that we trust kids to make good decisions.”

Aiello additionally noted the district’s incentive to combat phone misuse in the years prior to COVID. 

“A lot of kids struggle and have real conflicts and problems and flunk out and get put on probation [when they make the transition from high school to college.] So the idea was, if we allow kids to have some freedom [and] some responsibilities in high school, it would be a more gradual transition to college. That’s why we have an open campus and have always had minimal policies,” Aiello said. 

Common Sense Media reports a significant portion of students, including those in elementary school, frequently use cell phones during school hours. Studies show that as many as 97% of kids aged 11 to 17 use their phones during the school day; this indicates a widespread trend of cell phone usage even among younger students.

“It’s interesting talking to my colleagues—they say it’s become an increasing problem in the sense that kids, younger and younger, are getting cell phones,” Gutchewsky said. “They’ve got second and third graders, in some cases, having cell phones, and it’s becoming a distraction.”

Gutchewsky is addressing the cell phone usage issue at a larger scale and ensuring that by the time students enter high school, they have the control and responsibility to use technology without disrupting the class.

“We were discussing ways that we can embed instruction around appropriate electronic device usage, starting at elementary school and then working up through the middle and high school,” Gutchewsky said.

Aiello described how part of the issue can be attributed to the new implementation of a block schedule after COVID. This new schedule left a large portion in the middle of the day for students to do whatever they please, and combined with the misuse of phones, problems became much more likely to occur.

“When the phone became more of an issue for more and more teenagers, we tried to re-norm how we do school, coming out of COVID,” Aiello said. “It seemed like a good time to start making policy changes.”

Verby noted that the need for a policy change has arisen at the administrative and educator levels. 

“There was definitely a desire from more teachers for a solution this year, and I think it’s just a result of what they were seeing in their own classes,” Verby said. “The past two years, there’s been an intention to do something with the administration, and I think that’s benefited us. It’s definitely helped with attention in class, and it seems like more teachers are happy with that.” 

Lechkova mirrors the mutual support of a ban from teachers, noting how even adults need a reminder to stay off their phones in school to maximize productivity. 

“More and more of the opinion is that kids need that extra structure. Everyone needs that extra structure,” Lechkova said. “I find myself needing that extra structure because it’s very difficult to self-regulate when you have something that is instant gratification.”

Every year in his classes, Verby requires sophomore and junior students to complete surveys regarding phone use, student behavior and attention levels in class. With questions like, “How much time do you spend on your phone?” and “Do you know that you should not be on your phone in class? ” The data collected continually shows that many students realize they are on their phones too much and recognize it as a problem.

“I’ve looked at the phone data, and the most staggering part was ‘I spend too much time on my phone’ every year,” he said. “It takes two to four years for a norm shift. I know the seniors will say it’s preposterous, but the freshmen will come in with the expectation, like, ‘Oh, it’s a little bit more relaxed than Wydown.’”

Many teachers also recognize the anxiety and mental health struggles that stem from phone use, which was a large incentive behind the administration to make the phone policy with its current restrictions. 

“The constant notifications you get—not only on your phone, now, on your watch, Gmail, PowerSchool, social media accounts—I can see how that would contribute to having a more anxious state overall. You [are] constantly expecting something new to happen at any moment,” Lechkova said.

The Implications of the Phone Policy

Concerns 

While many teachers, parents, and administrators entered the school year with optimism and high expectations for the new phone policy, students have approached the change with apprehension, voicing concerns and frustrations about how it might affect their daily routines and communication habits.

Senior Yehia Said noted the potential removal of freedoms and autonomy that the phone policy created. 

“When I first heard of the new policy, I was shocked. Why did the school have the ability to diminish our autonomy to such an extent?” he said. “It didn’t seem fair to the students or even helpful educationally.” 

Yet even with the current discontentment with students, some parents have come forward requesting even stricter rules, worrying about cell phones’ harmful effects on their children. 

AP World and Sociology teacher Paul Hoelscher partially agrees with the parents’ concerns. 

“Over the summer, some parent groups, especially the elementary level, were moving towards a total ban. I was personally kind of hesitant for high school kids. I can see the merit of that in elementary and middle school to some degree, but I generally agree with the philosophy,” Hoelscher said. 

At the beginning of the proposed ban, many high school students were upset about being grouped with younger kids.

“High schoolers should not be treated as children, especially since their emotional intelligence and self-regulation is more advanced than younger kids,” senior Lucia Lerena said.

Students have also shared their concerns about feeling they will not be well-equipped for the real world once they exit high school and do not have any regulators with them. 

Verby believes that even if students exit high school with poor time management skills, they will eventually learn.

“I’ve heard that excuse given, it’s like, ‘Well, you got to be able to use your phone in college, you got to be able to use your phone as an adult,’ and it’s like, there is a curriculum that comes first. We gotta teach you stuff,” he said. “You gotta learn the curriculum that is state-mandated. Those time management skills are skills you can develop elsewhere, but we’ve got to teach you chemistry. That’s my job. So I understand that argument, but I don’t agree with it at all.”

Above all, many students’ and parents’ first concerns were safety and communication.

“I think the phone policy is an interesting idea, although it can feel too harsh for most students. The pressure is on us to pay attention; if we don’t, that should be on us,” sophomore Asher Stitziel said. “I think [the district] should make a layout plan for what would happen within the first week of school for every classroom if there is an emergency, to give the students an idea of escape and getting to their phones.” 

Senior Ally Ord echoed this sentiment of concern.

“The phone policy is beneficial in that more people will pay attention in class, but there’s this huge issue with safety. We have an open campus. Students need their phones to tell time, get directions and communicate. We have this privilege to teach responsibility, but that responsibility means nothing if we are unsafe,” Ord said. “If someone was in an accident, they have no way to communicate with the school or their parents. Additionally, half of our student body can’t drive themselves. They need to be able to communicate with their ride.” 

With similar concerns, senior Murphy Naylor vocalized his worries for the event that an individual is in the gender neutral bathroom during a lockdown. For those in the stalls, most of the noise from the overhead announcements is muffled, making it difficult to hear where an intruder may be in the building. 

“With the chance [students] wouldn’t hear the alarm or announcements and would have no access to anyone else, I feel there’s a whole group of students who could be isolated or have no clue that anything is wrong if an active lockdown was happening, which is extremely dangerous in its own sense,” Naylor said. 

However, teachers have combated the safety concerns with the idea that if an emergency were to occur, classes would be well equipped to exit the building safely. 

“If we’re going on a fire drill or something, kids can grab their phone on the way out. I know there’s some discussion about [the safety concerns], but we’ve got communication mechanisms, and obviously, issues with intruders or anything like that should be taken care of at the school level, particularly our barriers on the outside and our safety precautions inside,” Verby said. “We’re not taking 850 kids with a cell phone as our preventative measure; There’s more than enough access to communication throughout the day.” 

Leckhova noted how the dynamic in the classroom has changed as a result. Students can feel less anxiety about being without their phones because if their devices are at the front of a room in a pocket holder, they can still see it.

“Students are more present in the moment. [Your phone] is still in the classroom, so if you’re anxious to be without your phone, you can still see it. If there’s an emergency, you can get to it,” Lechkova said. “However, it’s not making a noise, it’s not buzzing, it’s not always tempting you and getting your attention away from what you’re supposed to be doing.”

Additionally, some teachers may have seen the phone policy as another reason to be viewed as the antagonist in the classroom rather than an educator who is simply enforcing rules. Yet, Verby sees it as a challenge. 

“I honestly take the challenge to be more interesting than their phone,” Verby said. “That’s a little bit easier to do in a science class, but with an 80-minute block, I’m gonna use every minute.”

Lechkova had a similar concern at first but has found that the reality of the implementation has eliminated the more disciplinary side of teaching she did not want to do. 

“The other thing is, I didn’t get into this job to police you,” Lechkova said. “Policing behavior is something I just genuinely dislike doing. So this system gets rid of that part.”

For Aiello, the phone policy has also eliminated policing students for himself and his history department colleagues. 

“I heard some of my colleagues say that they felt like they were doing a lot of work, being the bad cop, supervising kids, warning kids, taking phones away from kids and then wouldn’t get much or any support from administration. They were having to do all the work on their own and fill out forms and make phone calls, and then the kid would get assigned detention, and they wouldn’t actually end up having to serve it,” Aiello said. “I’ve heard this year that that’s not happening as much; [when] detentions are being assigned, they are being served. Now, my colleagues feel we’re all in this together.”

Aiello also recognized that enforcing the policy on the administrative level not only eliminates teachers’ concerns but also successfully brings them to fruition at the student level. 

“Huh, funny, when you have a policy and enforce it, kids will actually go along with it,” he said. “Crazy.”

The Reality 

While some individuals have approached the policy with apprehension, other students see the benefits of it. 

“I really like it. I think it’s working effectively, and I haven’t seen cell phones become a problem,” Lerena said. 

Lerena is not the only one who believes this new policy has positive implications in the three months it has been in effect. 

“I feel the policy does a really good job of keeping students off their phones. It’s designed to make a nice classroom environment where people are focused and not distracted,” senior Ben Koster said. “I think it’s doing what it’s designed to do.”

While Verby is an adamant supporter of increased limitations to phone use, his support for restrictions to help distracted students did not begin with the phone policy. Verby has had a phone policy for around six years, in which his Honors Chemistry, Honors Biology or Biomedical Interventions students are required to put their phones in a plastic shoe holder that hangs up perpendicular to the door of his room.

“I think [the phone policy] is great. I’ve been going on six years of having [kids] checking their phones every single class period, and having the shoe organizers numbered right by the door, clearly visible, made for a great policy,” he said. “Just establishing from the very first day, ‘We’re gonna check our phones,’ really laid the foundation for the entire year that the expectation was absolutely you don’t use your phone in this class.”

The policy, as it currently stands, has many supporters. 

“I like that it separates the use of personal devices from an educational standpoint rather than an overall school standpoint. We can still use them in hallways and during our free periods,” Lerena said. “It’s good to separate the distractions from the classroom.”

Students and teachers agree that a more uniform policy has mutual benefits for implementation across grade levels.

“The fact that we have a uniform policy so students don’t have to negotiate classroom by classroom and figure out the hidden rules in every room is very nice, but at the same time, working in a district that allows for each teacher to have both academic freedom and personal freedom is crucial,” Hoelscher said.

Students, parents, teachers and administrators agree that phones can be addicting. Finding a way to balance that is a challenge, and restrictions during class time helps balance the need for instant gratification that comes from cell phone use and maintaining an educational environment.

According to KFF, excessive cellphone use can distract from in-person socialization and is associated with loneliness among adolescents. Establishing and building relationships with peers is beneficial to youth well-being and can protect adolescents experiencing adversity. With the distraction of cell phones, peer relationship-building may be negatively impacted.

“Sometimes it’s nice to just not think about phones. I like not having to worry about it or having to answer anything,” Lerena said. “The policy is causing little backlash. I don’t think it’s even a big problem now. But if the cell phone policy were stricter, I think that it could definitely be beneficial to everyone,” Lerena said.

Verby admits that even if students do not like the policy, they understand why it is in place. 

“It depends on the year and the grades, but [the policy has] been wildly successful, and I’ve collected data for six years,” Verby said. “Even if a kid doesn’t like the policy, they overwhelmingly know the expectation. Most kids self report that they do spend too much time on their phone, particularly in class and in the halls.”

While every teacher will have a different way of enforcing the phone policy, whether it be the clear plastic shoe holders, allowing them to be in book bags or even on their students’ desks, Verby encourages that whatever choice is made has to stay the same all year round in order to be effective. 

“Stay consistent. Obviously, more experienced teachers are going to be more successful at it, and I think harder classes are gonna have students that are more interested and more engaged. More experienced teachers are going to have more structure to the policy. We just need to set the expectation and having structure from the beginning is as important as anything else,” Verby said. 

Lechkova is excited about the success she has seen with the phone policy so far in her AP Spanish, Honors Advanced Spanish II and History of Spain and Latin America classes. Her expectation is that once students come into class, they put their phones up, sit down and get to work. 

“It has been a massive game changer for my classes. I get so much more out of the learning time. Students are more engaged,” Lechkova said. “[My students] are not constantly thinking about what message they get, and peers are much more interested in this reality that you’re a part of. That was great to see.”

Lechkova also recognized how much easier it is for upperclassmen to deal with the policy change. 

“It’s much harder for ninth graders, especially, to have their phones on them because as your brain develops, you learn how to regulate emotions, and you learn how to regulate that part of your brain that just wants gratification,” Lechkova said. “So, for upperclassmen, it’s a little easier. I see them being better with their phones, not across the board, but [generally].”

As a mother of young kids, she sees this difficulty in managing screen addiction. 

“I see how this technology is addictive. There are evenings where my son, who’s six years old, asks, ‘Can I use your calculator on your phone? Can I see my school lunch menu?’ All those things are great because you get access to things and can learn a lot more, but it very quickly becomes more and more, and our role as adults is to help you learn to navigate that,” she said. 

Lechkova is conscious of helping her children develop a longer attention span. She outlined how this problem is also present with college students and, at times, herself. 

“We’re seeing college students who are having trouble reading for longer periods, reading longer texts, and that is the social media effect. You get chunks of information meant to be for a few minutes, a few seconds, and then you move on,” Lechkova said. “ I see that in myself. I have a PhD in literature, and I’m embarrassed to say that I can’t read more than a chapter of a book without getting distracted. I don’t have that attention span, and that’s a world we just have to figure out how to live with.” 

Lechkova recognizes that the policy teaches students how to have autonomy while also imposing necessary limits. 

“[The policy] is a good middle ground,” Lechkova said. “It’s not as strict as some schools, because it could be [that] you can’t have your phone all day long, and you have to check it into the office. It’s also not as lazy; it’s a good place to be, especially because a lot of you guys are going to go to college next year. You’re gonna have to deal with this in your college-level classes. And guess what? Nobody is gonna say to you, ‘Put your phone away during lecture.’ If you miss it, you miss it.”

The future of the phone policy 

With the introduction of the phone policy, teachers and administrators are observing how it will influence student behavior and adherence to the rules. The policy’s impact on the school environment and student adaptation remains a key area of interest for stakeholders.

“I don’t want to see us get more relaxed,” Verby said. “I think Clayton has a culture of respecting the students with open campus and things like that, so I don’t think a total ban at the high school level is where we want to be either.” 

Students have also found that their habits outside of school have begun to change. 

“Once they got into the habit, students also saw the benefit,” Lechkova said. “I’m very happy to report that I have some students who forget their phones, and hours later say, ‘Oh, I forgot my phone,’ and I say, ‘Wow, good for you. You spent a whole three and a half hours not knowing that your phone is not with you!’”

Lechkova echoed the importance of adapting to the changing technological landscape.

“Especially post COVID, in order to manage phones and classes, I’ve always been of the opinion that phones are here to stay. So this is something students and adults have to learn how to live with and have normal relationships with,” she said. 

As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in education, schools face the challenge of defining AI’s role in a way that enhances learning. As a relatively new tool for mass markets, people worldwide must examine AI’s role in their lives.

According to Forbes, artificial intelligence enables machines to handle tasks historically requiring human input and thought. AI can “make decisions, solve problems, understand and mimic natural language and learn from unstructured data.”

English teacher Adam Hayward has noticed the growing presence of AI.

“It’s ubiquitous; you can’t even do a Google search without AI splashing on your screen. You don’t have a choice,” Hayward said.

Social studies teacher Danielle DuHadway finds ways to use AI to benefit her life.

“When we think about efficiency, AI is a wonderful tool to help organize things. I use it every week to create menus for my house. I ask it specifically to give me five kid-friendly recipes with certain grams of protein [and] without foods I’m allergic to,” DuHadway said. “I can compare what I have to [an AI-generated] grocery list, [and it’s] done in a minute. Something that used to take me a lot of time doesn’t take as much time, and it’s easy. In terms of daily tasks, it can be helpful.”

At the district level, administrators are working to understand what AI means for education and how to guide its use. Although AI feels new to many, Chief Technology Officer Jeff Puls points out that it has already been a tool for years. Virtual assistants (such as Alexa or Siri), navigation services and online shopping recommendations are just a few examples of the prevalence of AI. 

AI’s integration into education can be seen in examples like Google Translate. Similar to tools like Chat GPT, Google Translate worried many world language teachers when it was first introduced.

“When Google Translate became a thing, language teachers were really scared. [But] if you put something into Google Translate that you want to say, it’s going to put things in different ways. So it can be a way for [teachers] to identify that,” Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Milena Garganigo said. 

Lechkova sees AI as something that is here to stay and emphasizes the importance of working with it.

“I think AI is something that we need to address as a society [and] as an educational community because it’s something everyone needs to learn more about,” Lechkova said. “It’s here to stay. People are already using it. We need to learn about it, and then we need to teach it.”

Administration

Administrators have focused on supporting teachers and students in this new landscape and ensuring quality education remains. Discussions around AI began by considering the district’s profile of a graduate, a framework for the skills and attributes students should develop during school. 

“If we’re thinking about the creative thinker, [how can] we [approach] the possibilities or the capabilities of AI? We had a lot of conversations about [the] people who are freaking out about it, and then [some] people want it to do everything for [them],” Garganigo said. 

Recognizing the differing views around AI, Puls and Garganigo aim to act as “thinking partners” with staff to understand this topic. 

“We don’t have all the answers, but one of the things that I think we try to model with the staff is that we’ll help think through it, and we can dig into research together and talk [through] things,” Puls said. 

Instead of implementing a strict policy, the district has put guidelines and considerations into place, leaving much of the decision-making up to teachers. 

Since there is no ‘one size fits all’ policy when it comes to AI, different departments require different policies to address the presence of AI in schoolwork, especially in English classes.

“AI can violate that academic integrity, depending upon how you’re using it. Maybe in a science class, it’s not plagiarism. Where it becomes tricky is in an English class,” English teacher Darcy Cearley said.

This mentality applies at the district level, too, and administrators are wary of creating a general policy on AI use. 

“We weren’t going to write a board policy, but people needed some guidance. I think that framed our work; [it] was offering some guidance,” Garganigo said. 

Some of this guidance contained general AI guidelines that teachers could restructure to make it suitable for their classes. Cearley used some of these example guidelines to create her own rules regarding AI for her different classes.

“The Honors English II team has a policy [and] the AP Lang team has a policy. That school-wide expectation for AI is what we use to build our policies in our various teams,” Cearley said.

DuHadway emphasized the need for increased dialogue within the school to address the inconsistency in policies.

“There need to be more conversations at the building level. Currently, it’s isolated, and teachers have their own policies—either not using it or using it in some instances. That creates confusion among students. More work needs to be done at the building level to help teachers understand what this is,” DuHadway said.

Professional development on AI is also left up to teachers rather than being mandated.

“[Professional development is] choice-based. Teachers [can] attend other structures of professional learning. People go to conferences [and] come back with some ideas and some thinking, and maybe we’ll talk to people within the department. But as a [whole], that has not been something we have focused on,” Garganigo said. 

DuHadway emphasizes AI’s transformative potential and the importance of teaching students how to use it properly.

“AI will continue to shape the way we do things, in personal and professional capacities: how we learn information [and] what we do with [it],” DuHadway said. “Do I think AI could be a great editor? Sure, but how do we teach students how to use these technologies in a way that is ethical and responsible?”

Teachers

Because AI guidelines are flexible, approaches to AI use differ from classroom to classroom. In English teacher Sean Rochester’s classroom, AI is not allowed. 

“When it comes to humanities, where the focus [is] on personal expression, as soon as the student uses AI, they’re bypassing the whole reason why we write in the first place. [It’s] not to complete an assignment, but to help [students] learn to generate [their] ideas and express them in [their] voice,” Rochester said.

Rochester requires students who misuse AI to redo the assignment by hand in front of him. 

Hayward, who has a policy similar to Rochester’s, emphasizes the need to consider students’ environment. 

“[Companies] are trying to market AI to everyone, like it’s not harm[ful]. But students are avoiding doing the type of work that will make them independent thinkers and writers in the future,” Hayward said. “I try to talk to them about constructing sentences and why they should be doing it on their own.” 

Cearley shares Hayward’s opinion and affirms that a student’s authenticity is what matters.

“The quality of your work, even if imperfect, is more valuable than a polished piece generated by AI,” Cearley said.

With the increase of AI, teachers devote extra time to ensuring their students comply with guidelines. Rochester’s grading process and timeline have been affected, but he has not changed his teaching. 

“For every single submission, I have to do more clicking and review pieces of the process more thoroughly, [such as] pre-writing, drafts [and] specific passages,” Rochester said.

While detection tools are helpful, the Department of Education has acknowledged that the programs that detect AI have been found to “falsely conclude that students have used AI tools or otherwise plagiarized their work,” making teachers wary of relying on them.

“If I feel that something is off, I go to the various trackers to see if my intuition is correct or if you’ve just changed your style,” Cearley said.

Once Cearley suspects a student used AI, she discusses the issue with the student during the regularly scheduled English conferences. In these conversations, Cearley asks questions about parts of the writing process that require a human component.

“Usually, when a student has used AI to write a draft, they can’t tell you how they came up with their idea because they didn’t come up with it—AI did,” Cearley said.

Some teachers use deterrents such as extreme punishments, while others modify their curriculum to involve assignments where using AI is more complicated.

“Personal narratives are hard for AI to replicate, so that’s a great way to avoid [it],” Cearley said.

Fighting for other methods of preventing AI usage, Cearley attempts to ensure students do not consider using AI by implementing alternative methods for student work.

“We do a lot of drafting by hand. That’s one way to ensure students aren’t tempted to use AI,” Cearley said.

Many caution that AI’s increasing role could pose risks to the integrity of student learning. Rochester encourages students to rely on their abilities for self-expression and not lean too heavily on technology.

 “Rely on yourself to express yourself,” Rochester said.

From a different perspective, Lechkova has been more cautious about banning AI use altogether because of previous experiences. 

“I’ve tried not to put an outright ban in my classes because I don’t think those work forever. I think the more responsible thing to do on our end would be to teach [students] how to use these as tools to help, rather than letting it all loose or saying you can never use this,” Lechkova said. “It was the same conversation we had with Google Translate, and Google Translate didn’t end language learning in the world. And AI is not going to end writing. So the question is, how do we use these tools responsibly?”

DuHadway has noticed the shift in her perspective on AI, too. 

“My initial reaction to AI was [that] I never want students to use it. That was my gut reaction a year ago. As I played around with it in my own life, a lot for personal uses, I’ve realized that this could be a really interesting tool for students to learn how to use,” DuHadway said. “I just did an AI activity today, teaching kids in AP Human Geography how to use thoughtful and specific prompts to get specific information as a research assistant. That was great because we were consuming information.”

DuHadway also notes that teachers may overlook students’ perspectives on AI, as not all students embrace it, with some expressing skepticism.

“[During the class activity,] there were two camps. We had students saying ‘AI is great’ or ‘I don’t trust it.’ Both are acceptable responses. Many people don’t understand how AI works, and they’re worried about the information it gives, which is a valid viewpoint. Some students think it’s the best thing ever because they can figure things out quicker,” DuHadway said. “The two camps are an interesting perspective. In my mind, I thought students were using this all the time, but there’s another camp that won’t use it because they don’t understand it. It’s scary to them. They don’t trust the information. That was a new perspective I learned today.”

Students

Students, such as freshman Owen Solomon, recognize the ethical implications and advocate for responsible AI usage.

“I think that using AI for learning is like [asking] a question, and it gives you answers. You can use its thoughts [and] brainstorming with your ideas. It can help you get a better claim or think through your ideas. But I think plagiarism is when you copy and paste it,” Solomon said. 

Solomon also questions the fairness of policies that prohibit AI entirely.  

“I think that’s a little harsh because AI can be a helpful learning tool when used correctly,” Solomon said. “For example, if it is used to brainstorm ideas in an English or history class, [or] to help strengthen an answer.”

Solomon believes students should have a voice in AI policies because they use the technology.

Senior Alyssa Blanke has noticed growing concerns among teachers and students about how AI tools could contribute to “weaponized incompetence,” even from an early age. 

According to Psychology Today, weaponized incompetence (or strategic incompetence) “is when someone knowingly or unknowingly demonstrates an inability to perform or master certain tasks, thereby leading others to take on more work.” In schools, this could take the form of using AI tools excessively. 

“I think it’s going to ruin future students’ work ethics,” Blanke said. 

Balancing Technology and Learning 

The long-term impacts of AI are uncertain, but Rochester sees potential risks to individuality. 

“When people do interact, there’s less individuality. We’re all becoming one entity,” Rochester said. 

According to Standford University, “While ChatGPT spits out answers to queries, these responses are not designed to optimize for student learning. As Liang noted, the models are trained to deliver answers as fast as possible…” Rather than using AI to deepen their understanding, many students only use it for efficiency.

“Right now, I’m just seeing students using it to try to get work done faster,” Hayward said. 

It’s important to prioritize students’ experiences when integrating AI into education. Rochester believes that the emphasis on efficiency may overshadow other important learning aspects.

“While efficiency is great, I think we’re valuing it too much. We’re valuing efficiency over humanity, the human experience which involves inefficiency, which involves surprise, failure and adjustment. That’s how one grows,” Rochester said.

Privacy is also a concern, particularly as it continues to enter educational settings. 

According to the Department of Education, “Artificial intelligence may be able to provide new kinds of education opportunities, but it also comes with risks, including those related to student surveillance and discipline, biased plagiarism detection, student loan misinformation and discrimination in admissions.”

Echoing these concerns, Garganigo emphasizes the importance of preserving student privacy. 

“One of our responsibilities is to protect the privacy of students. In thinking about [using AI], if it’s a violation of student privacy, it’s a no,” Garganigo said. 

However, the potential benefits of AI should be noticed. Rochester acknowledges that AI can significantly contribute, particularly in fields beyond education.  

“We should want to live with it because, in certain fields and disciplines, it’s going to do wondrous things,” Rochester said.

DuHadway also notes the importance of AI as students move into different studies and careers.

“My husband is a database architect, and his company pays for them to use AI daily. They’re encouraged to use it for coding and figuring out complex processes—to find errors in code and sometimes create code,” DuHadway said. “AI is showing up in many fields. There’s a need in educational settings for students to practice. That’s what school is for—you practice in these spaces to apply it in the real world. You will come in contact with it in the real world, especially in government institutions and the tech field.”

The Future

Looking to the future, administrators like Garganigo believe that AI will not replace the need for teachers. The human element of education is necessary as teachers adapt to the needs of their students. 

“I don’t envision that. One of my platforms that I stand on around teaching and learning is [that] we’re responsible for teaching students, and so [one] class and [another] class are not the same. So even if we teach the same course, we have different students, and we have to respond to their needs. Right now, I don’t see a way that these tools could do that the way that I think humans can now,” Gargaingo said.

Puls also emphasizes the need for an evolving approach to education as the world changes.  

“The core of education isn’t about rinse and repeat. So it’s not like we’re going to take the same approach that we took 50 years ago to teach this content. The world’s changing, and we need to change too,” Puls said.

Empty desks like this one were a common occurrence on test days prior to the weight of the attendance policy. (Charlie Meyers )

With a new attendance policy, students risk losing course credit after eight absences, whether excused or not. This change has quickly become the talk of the school. The absence policy requires students with over eight absences in a class within one semester to make up the time they missed. 

“We’ve been having a lot of conversations, particularly with faculty, around the things that are impediments to learning, and one of those things was the idea of regular daily attendance,” Principal Dan Gutchewsky said. 

The administration observed a worrying trend: students frequently report being sick on test days. AP Economics teacher Daniel Glossinger noted the issue extends beyond just the days of assessments.

“It was a significant number of students who were absent on not just test days, but on regular [days too],” Glossenger said. 

Under the new attendance policy, action is taken when a student exceeds eight absences per semester. With 45 instructional periods in a semester, missing eight classes constitutes approximately 20% of the course, equating to three full weeks of school.

“The kids who were doing what they were supposed to and who were routinely showing up were experiencing a lesser quality experience because I was spending so much more time working with students who were perpetually behind,” Glossenger said. “This policy was trying to guide folks to make better choices, and that’s what I’ve seen happen.” 

Gutchewsky emphasizes that the new policy’s goal is not to penalize students but to encourage accountability when class time is missed. 

“We wanted to make sure that we were emphasizing participation in the learning experience because things that happen between the tests are really important to the overall experience, even though they may not be measured on an exam,” Gutchewsky said. 

For Glossenger, the change in student behavior led to noticeable improvements. He has seen exam scores increase, with a five—to 10-point median and average score. 

“To me, that’s indicative that students being present in class is helping them master the material more,” Glossenger said. 

AP Psychology teacher David Aiello felt the new policy’s positive effects at the annual sophomore challenge, a team-building event for sophomores run by seniors.

“At the sophomore challenge, we ran out of food. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, and we always had an 80% attendance at [the] sophomore challenge,” Aiello said. “This year, we had 96% attendance. I just didn’t order enough food for the amount of kids that showed up that day, which was a good problem.”

Students who exceed the limit must make up the missed time in a classroom rather than the ISS space. The goal is learning rather than punishment.  

“We want [students] to demonstrate that they’re making up that time missed in that particular class, and then [their] grade is reinstated,” Gutchewsky said. 

Glossenger expressed reservations about the practicalities of make-up time. 

“I don’t necessarily agree with that aspect of the policy, not for reasons of fairness, but because of the logistical aspect of it,” Glossenger said. “I wonder about how the makeups will play out as a semester nears its conclusion. Since we’ve not gotten there yet, I don’t know how it will go. I think a lot of that will depend on how many credit suspensions there end up being.”

Students with medical conditions or those observing religious practices have the option of flexibility within the attendance policy, ensuring their unique needs are accommodated.

“We’re not out to get you,” Gutchewsky said. “We want to be sensitive and flexible enough to deal with [unique situations].”

The policy also offers more structure for the school when dealing with significant absences, which Glossenger sees as a positive. 

“Prior to this policy, we [used] a case-by-case basis, [which] leads to an enormous amount of implicit bias in how we make decisions,” Glossenger said. “Having a clear policy reduces some of that.”

Transcripts will now include student attendance records. As more colleges shift towards test-optional admissions, attendance offers another data point to evaluate students. 

“Colleges are [also] struggling with a lack of in-person attendance,” Gutchewsky said. “As we look at other ways of getting our kids noticed, one of those things is [their] strong attendance.” 

Gutchewsky has encountered concerns about students feeling pressured to attend school while sick to avoid exceeding the absence cap or affecting their attendance percentage. Although the policy allows for exemptions in documented medical cases, the administration continues to address expectations regarding sick days.

Senior Ally Ord worries about the consequences of having a stricter attendance policy on sick days and burnout. 

“I think students are scared of being sick and not getting credit. Some students do go to class [and] get sick or rely on mental health days to combat the insane workload that students take on. Now [students are] in a position where that is in jeopardy,” Ord said. “I think because of the attendance policy, there will be more people coming to school sick and burnt out.” 

The school’s accreditation requirements also play a small role in the new policy. The requirement says that 90% of students must be present 90% of the time. Although average daily attendance is a factor in school funding, Gutchewsky says this is not a significant reason for the policy. The school hopes the new policies will address lingering issues from the pandemic and encourage increased attendance.  

“Showing up each day is one of the single strongest determiners of school success,” Gutchewsky said. “We’re hopeful it will benefit the vast majority of our kids.”

This new attendance policy distinguishes the school from others in the area, setting it apart with its specific approach to managing student absences.

“From what I’ve seen so far, I like the policy. I like the effect it’s had. I like that it’s causing more kids to be in class more often, and [I don’t] have to worry about tracking kids down and getting them stuff and things like that,” Aiello said.

Glossenger has noticed the improved teaching environment in addition to the other benefits.

“In all my career, I have not been as happy to hear about a new policy as this one. It has dramatically changed the morale among [teachers] because it sends a signal about why it’s important to be in class,” Glossenger said. “It has improved a lot of people’s feelings [about] teaching and education in general. I’m so grateful for the tremendous difference [the policy has made].” 

In 2023, around two and a half million students took over five million Advanced Placement (AP) exams globally. As more and more kids across the nation take AP courses, the question of which and how many AP classes to take resonates yearly among students during course selection. 

AP classes are college-level classes created by the College Board to provide college credit opportunities to high school students. Subjects range from science and math to arts and humanities, all aimed at providing students with a challenging course that prepares them for higher education.

However, the difficulty of the classes is also balanced by the reward, a sentiment expressed by junior Jason Shi at Ladue Watkins High School.

“I think the value of AP classes is quite high because some people want to take more challenging courses,” Shi said. “[The courses] prevent them from being bored in school, and therefore will make it easier for them to take classes that better reflect their learning ability.”

Shi also finds other benefits outside the content of the classes, as they give him opportunities to develop other skills.

“What you get from AP classes is a more thorough understanding of the topic being taught,” Shi said. “For example, AP history classes, like APUSH or AP World, help with critical thinking skills and essay writing.”

Though each student’s takeaways from the vastly different AP classes are individual, these courses offer a universal benefit. 

Schools throughout the St. Louis area have diverse policies on when and how many AP classes a student can take. At Clayton, an administrative policy only gives AP access to juniors and seniors, with some exceptions. 

“I see the logic behind it, considering that when our students come from Wydown Middle School, a lot of the higher performing people think that classes are going to remain the same length and they’re not going to be able to handle the burden of AP classes,” Sophomore Henry Dong said.

Dong notes that the school policy stands out due to its unique approach to underclassmen, setting it apart from typical policies in other schools.

“Clayton’s policies are interesting in that they’re a lot more student-focused,” Dong said. “I know that other school district’s freedom may appeal to students who are going faster, but it forces kids to be more grounded instead of going as hard as they can.”

Students with this policy can build up the necessary skills to take such rigorous courses later in high school through other classes.

“I think it’s better than the free-for-all strategy,” Dong said. “While it’s not the best in its current state, it’s better than offering all these classes to freshmen. They won’t have a good high school experience, as it’s not necessary for them to take APs until Junior or Senior year.”

Clayton offers very rigorous honors programs for freshmen and sophomores, where high performing students are allowed to challenge themselves further.

“For students who’ve gone through all the classes in freshman and sophomore year and understand they handle these classes, it smoothes their transition from middle to high school,” Dong said. “There’s so many other factors in academic performance that people don’t consider.”

Clayton students perform far better on average than other schools in the nation on AP exams, which means that this student-focused policy might improve academic performance schoolwide.

“I would attribute that to Clayton giving APs to more mature students rather than dumping freshmen into these classes,” Dong said.

Some schools structure their curriculum, so students focus on developing essential skills during their freshman and sophomore years. In contrast, they apply these skills in more advanced classes during their junior and senior years. This approach can impact students who wish to take certain classes earlier in their education.

“There are downsides because learning doesn’t have an all-size-fits-all all solution,” Dong said.

AP classes are available to all grades at Ladue Horton Watkins School students. Shi takes advantage of this policy, taking three AP classes during his sophomore year and four in his junior year.

“They opened up opportunities. For me, taking a lot of APs early really helps [me] connect with upperclassmen,” Shi said. “So, for example, a lot of my friends are in higher grade[s] simply because I’ve met them through different AP classes.”

Shi adds that these classes are important in establishing a diverse social life. After taking a heavy AP course load in the past, he’s developed new friendships.

“Now [I] know a bunch of people. Then, next year, they’ll be heading off to college, [so] [I] can get a lot of information off of the college experience,” Shi said. “It’s just a good way to connect with others outside of who you would normally see.”