Denise Morrison, principal of Mountain Crest High School, told the Cache County School Board on March 20 that the school has seen improved classroom time and lower failing grades after administrators began removing phones from students and rolling out a digital hall pass and a teacher-driven intervention tracker.

Morrison said the district changed how an existing phone policy is enforced so teachers no longer enter a “power struggle” with students. “We changed nothing in the policy other than us as administrators. We’re gonna take the phones,” Morrison said, describing a process in which teachers add a student’s name to a list and administrative staff retrieve the device from a mobile cart. She added that repeat offenses result in longer confiscation and that “we have only had one parent complain about it.”

The principal said the digital hall pass requires students to sign out and sign in anytime they leave class. The system can block repeat or known hallway users and administrators can see who is out of class. Morrison said freshmen embraced the pass and upperclassmen chose to remain in class more often after the change.

Morrison also outlined changes to academic interventions: an intensive third-hour “success” period and an end-of-day program tied to a student tracker each pupil must complete. Students who meet standards earn rewards such as extended lunch or early release privileges. “Our F’s have gone down tremendously,” Morrison said, while acknowledging the effort is a work in progress.

On staffing and funding, Morrison said Mountain Crest has increased co-teaching and added FTEs to lower class sizes for English learners and special education students, and that funds from TSSA (Targeted Supplemental Student Achievement) and trust-land sources are being used to support those efforts. She said the school has struggled to keep a consistent English-learner teacher but has recently hired one and placed that educator where the school expects the most impact.

Board members asked what the school is doing to address lower math and language-arts scores reported on the SOAR report. Morrison said Mountain Crest is using common-literacy approaches, “PLCing” (professional learning communities), targeted tutoring and credit-recovery options and has restructured testing timing so assessments better meet student needs.

Morrison closed by highlighting CTE, AP and extracurricular opportunities at Mountain Crest and by thanking staff for adapting to the new procedures. The board did not take formal action on the report; it served as informational business on the agenda.

Morrison’s presentation included specific operational details (phone confiscation steps, hall-pass blocking, intervention tracker and rewards) that the board said they would continue to monitor at future meetings.