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Student leaders urge school committee to reconsider phone-lock pilot, citing safety and equity concerns
Summary
Four student leaders told the Blackstone-Millville School Committee that a high-school pilot to collect or lock phones during class risks harming student autonomy, raises safety and liability questions, and excludes student voice; administrators said it is a staff-driven pilot and data will be reviewed by the policy subcommittee.
Student leaders urged the Blackstone-Millville Regional School Committee on April 10 to halt or rethink a classroom pilot that would place students’ phones in teacher-managed storage during class periods.
"When you take that ability of choice away from the students, they don't have the ability to learn that your actions do have consequences," Maya Gier, student council president, told the committee. Gier and three classmates — Ellen McCort, Izzy Goddette and Kyla Moore — delivered a prepared presentation arguing the pilot treats all students the same to fix a problem caused by a few and that it creates practical and safety risks.
The students raised multiple specific concerns: that phones can be used to call 911 in medical emergencies, that locking devices creates theft and damage liability for the district, that some classes and virtual assignments require students to use personal devices, and that a blanket box system is a one-size-fits-all response that disadvantages students who use phones as learning tools. "This is disciplining every single student in the high school for a couple of kids that just won't behave," one student said.
Superintendent Jason Defalco responded that the classroom approach began as a staff-proposed pilot designed to support teachers who report inconsistent compliance and classroom disruption. "This was born out of recent events that we've had stemming from cell phone usage," Defalco said, adding that the pilot was not yet a formal board policy and that administration will collect data and bring findings to the policy subcommittee.
Committee members emphasized process and clarity. Several members said the pilot should not have been presented to students or families as a finalized school-committee policy. The committee confirmed the policy subcommittee would review pilot data and any proposed formal policy.
The administration said five classrooms at the high school volunteered for an initial test of locker-style or box storage; staff members who volunteered were those already using ad-hoc approaches (for example, shoe-pocket organizers) and wanted to trial a consistent solution. The district will monitor results and bring a formal recommendation — if any — to the subcommittee for consideration.
The committee did not vote on a district-wide policy at the April 10 meeting. The student presenters asked that student voice be included in any evaluation and that consequences and alternatives be considered before expanding any collection protocol.
