Cell Phone Policy

Please note the important changes to our cell phone policy effective in the 2024-2025 school year.  

Rationale: At Brandywine High School, our primary purpose is to provide the maximum educational benefit for our students.  We also acknowledge that cell phones are centrally important in many students' lives for many reasons.  We have found that many of our students are distracted from our primary purpose by their electronic devices and that these devices can disrupt the educational processes of our classrooms.  We also feel that it is important to help students understand that there are places and times (operating a motor vehicle, for example) when using cell phones is inappropriate.  The cellphone rules below are created to address these issues.

BHS Cell Phone Rules: In brief, student cell phones and accessories (and related electronic devices) must remain turned off or silenced and placed in the teacher-designated cell phone organizer; no exceptions.  Student devices will remain in the designated cell phone holders for the entirety of the instructional period.  No devices will be permitted to be removed until the bell for dismissal.  Students may use their cell phone during the designated lunch period, in the hallways between class periods, and before/after school.  Students who violate the cell phone usage expectations are subject the Brandywine School District Code of Conduct.

If a student does not follow the school expectation to silence and store their phone in the teacher-designated cell phone organizer, then:

A dean or administrator will be notified to come collect the phone, and:

• The phone will be locked away in an administrative office or remain with the administrator.
  • First offense: the phone will be returned at the end of the class period during which it was taken.
  • Subsequent offenses: confiscation of the phone will be for the remainder of the day.
• Parents will be called when a cell phone has been confiscated by an administrator.
• If cell phone violations become a chronic problem, a parent will be contacted and further disciplinary action will be considered.
• If an administrator is called to deal with a specific student's cell phone three times during a single week, the student may temporarily lose the privilege of having the cell phone at school.
• A student found in possession of a cell phone during a class period (in defiance of the stated policy above) will be addressed using the Student Code of Conduct.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our Why: Cell Phone Studies & Research

• Smart Phones, Bad Grades? by Central Michigan University
• Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Cell Phones, by Harvard Graduate School of Education
• The Impact of Smartphone Use on Course Comprehension and Psychological Well-Being in the Classroom, by The National Library of Medicine