On August 12 of 2024, the state of California applied a rule that bans students from bringing phones on campus. The students had mixed emotions on this new rule, so we decided to interview some students for their opinion.

Since this rules appliance, staff have executed stricter rules since this past year against phones

where if a student’s seen with a mobile device, it’ll get confiscated when spotted immediately. They have announced the return policy is only to the students’ parents and no longer the students themselves.

We asked Nathalie Garcia, an 8th grade DREAMS student if she believes the new rule has kept the students safety in mind. She responded with “No, because some kids need them to go home.” She then went on to explain that the rule makes sense when it comes to using mobile devices during school hours but it would ultimately become better if they had told students to not take mobile devices out.

Damaris Gudino, a DREAMS 8th grade student added on to what Nathalie said when we asked her if anything else they could’ve done and she said that it’s better if teachers kept phones until the end of the period and to not take it away from them fully.

Stacy Torres, a 7th grade SEMS student said that she thinks the rule’s fair because it makes kids not distracted during class. She also said that she believes that this new rule keeps the students in mind because, “The adults want us to learn and be good.”

Unfortunately for some students, the phone ban will continue to apply to our school and the state. This concludes the opinions of students with mixed emotions and opinions. They told us that they understand why these rules needed to apply to the state and the school district, and the reason that they think it is seen as unfair and unsafe.