Winchester High committee recommends class-to-class device policy after yearlong review

Winchester School Committee members heard a report July 24 from a committee convened to update Winchester High School’s cell phone expectations and recommended a class-to-class policy rather than a bell-to-bell ban.

The committee, led by Principal Mahoney, said it convened 13 members — four students, five staff, three parents and the principal — met eight times from April to June and reviewed data, practices in other districts and feedback from more than 500 students, roughly 500 families and a majority of staff respondents.

The recommendation was for a class-to-class approach: students would turn phones into secured boxes or pouches when they enter each classroom and would be allowed to use devices between periods and during lunch. The committee emphasized medical exemptions and exceptions for documented device-based instructional needs, and recommended purchasing classroom storage boxes so the change would be cost-neutral to the town.

"Nobody's arguing that cell phones are a distraction in the classroom," Principal Mahoney said during the presentation, summarizing staff and student feedback. "We want to be as strict and as clean and consistent as possible."

Public commenters at the start of the meeting urged a stronger bell-to-bell policy. Rebecca Sliz, who identified herself as a parent of students in Winchester Public Schools, said evidence from other districts shows removing phones improves academic performance and student well-being. "All the evidence shows that removing phones improves all those metrics," Sliz said. Other parents, including Aurora DeLuca, Susie Briggs and Erica Walsh, described classroom and lunchroom disruptions and expressed support for limiting device use during the school day.

Committee members and administrators raised operational questions: handling early dismissals for athletics, how family members would contact students during the day, device storage logistics, loss/theft risk and teacher workload. Mahoney described two sizes of storage boxes (large boxes that hold up to 32 phones and smaller boxes for support spaces), said he had identified about $10,000 in one-time costs for classroom equipment and that two sample units had been ordered for testing.

The committee reported a close internal vote: the working group chose class-to-class by a 7–6 margin. Mahoney said the committee did not consult seniors in the survey (it collected responses from rising ninth, 10th and 11th graders) and that the student responses showed substantial resistance to losing phone access during the day.

No formal committee vote was taken at the meeting; staff said proposed changes would be incorporated into the student handbook and brought back to the School Committee for a first reading and a later vote so the district can plan implementation and custodial/capital timelines.

The committee also noted state-level activity: members said a state senate joint committee had issued recommendations on bell-to-bell device policies in recent days and that Winchester’s approach might align with or adapt to forthcoming state guidance. Principal Mahoney said the district wants to prepare in case the state adopts a bell-to-bell expectation but that class-to-class best fit Winchester High School’s open-campus culture.

The School Committee did not vote on the handbook changes at the meeting; members asked for additional details about logistics, exemptions, enforcement and how the school would build student buy-in before a final vote.

The committee plans to continue meeting during the summer and to return with handbook language and operational plans before the start of the school year.