By Rosie Smith
For the 2024-2025 school year, McNicholas High School has added a new phone rule to help students interact with one another and help the community be more aware of their surroundings.
The faculty of McNicholas voted to have the student’s phones off and out of sight while they are on campus during school hours. Director of Student Life, Mr. Bill Losekamp and Bob Noll, McNicholas Principal, decided on this policy over the summer after teachers reported the students were not present in class or interacting with each other during the school day, and a distracting number of social media posts were being made.
“I feel very happy [about the policy]. The students have really appreciated not feeling pressured by the phone during the school day,” Losekamp said.
“I feel great about it; I walk into the cafeteria and it’s noticeably louder, which is a good thing, ” Noll added.
With the first quarter coming to an end, faculty feel students have been more active in class, and participation has increased. Not only have students been more attentive in class, but there has been more interaction with others in class, during lunch, after and before school, in study halls and in CREW.
Towards the end of the 2023-2024 school year, faculty and administration began thinking about making a change to the phone policy. Administration talked to faculty, other schools, and considered the new law in the State of Ohio.
This rule was discussed among faculty and sent out during summer for families to discuss. Administration and faculty were unsure of how the students and parents would feel, but they knew this would be the best option to help the McNicholas community grow to full stature in Christ. The book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, a book that Noll had read, had an influence on the publishing of the rule.
“I’d like to hope that eventually students learn to manage their phones instead of their phones managing them, ” Noll said.
Noll and Losekamp believe that the students at McNicholas High School will become better people for the community, and better outside the school’s grounds, with families and friends. Through research, Noll said he knew that students would stop thinking about their phone and be less dependent on it with the new policy. “The most important thing about you, is you, not your phone,” Noll added.
Noll reported multiple unsolicited compliments of the new phone rule, from teachers, parents, and students, and it has impacted the student’s performance during class in a positive way. Teachers have also gotten further in lesson plans in classes. “We know as educators there’s an impact”, Noll said.
At the beginning of the year, Losekamp said he felt nervous about helping students understand the reason why they were making this new rule. After a few months into the school year, Noll and Losekamp are more confident in their phone rule policy, and they do not see any further changes or modifications in the future.
Sophomore Jena Lipps said, “At first I was kind of skeptical, but then as the year went on, I found out that I made more friends, and I got to know more people.” Though she felt she should be able to have phones out during free time, like at lunch or during study halls, she also feels that it improves interactions with each other and having it out compromises those interactions.
“People won’t be as distracted. And people will not be able to interact with each other in real time,” Lipps said.
The McNicholas Milestone 