Freeport board hears push for locked phone pouches after yearlong classroom ban shows enforcement strain

Freeport High School administrators and RSU 5 board members on June 4 discussed strengthening the district’s classroom cell‑phone policy after teachers reported increasing noncompliance this spring.

Charlie Mellon, assistant principal at Freeport High School, told the board the district began the school year with a classroom ban that required students to put phones in a classroom holder, usually a shoe rack, and leave them for the period. “At the beginning of the year, it was a little bit of an adjustment, but it was going pretty well,” Mellon said. He added that the practice began slipping over the winter, especially during advisory periods, and that enforcement is consuming teacher time.

The nut of the debate was whether the district should move to a locked‑pouch system — the principal alternative discussed — which would remove individual teachers from enforcement decisions. Mellon said his faculty had surveyed staff and that “77% of the teachers that responded to our form want to see a locked bag.” He said Morse…