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TAPS implemented an effective cell phone policy in 2024, but its impact has fallen a bit short of expectations. Now, the district is putting its foot down.
The Tracy Area Public School cell phone policy is a good one, says Principal Mandy Dibble, who is in her first year at the school. It doesn’t need changing, or even tweaking. It simply has to be enforced. And that is exactly what the district is doing — increasing its vigilance even more, effective last Monday.
The current policy was put into place in 2024 and by many accounts, everything went well for the first year.
“The cell phones weren’t an issue in class — they weren’t out on the desks, kids weren’t accessing their phones while in class — so the teachers felt like that was a very good first year.”
Dibble reviewed the policy after arriving at the high school and said so far this year, it seems to have held up. But there’s a but.
“As an administrator, we’re still having issues with cell phones,” Dibble said. “Cell phones in passing times, students signing out, saying they need to go to the bathroom to use their phone — they’re still using their phones during the day. Some students aren’t adhering to the policy.”
That policy states that during the school day, no use of cell phones, Bluetooth headphones of any kind, personal computers, or I-pads will be allowed between 8:02 a.m.-3 p.m. If students choose to bring their device to school, it must be stored in their blue locker (which have locks on them) for the entire
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We’re tying to teach students how to be responsible with their time — how are they going to learn best and how are they going to learn the most effectively. That’s the challenge.
— TAHS PRINCIPAL MANDY DIBBLE school day. If a student is found in possession of or using their device, staff will direct the student to turn in their device to the office for the remainder of the school day.
If a student demonstrates repeat issues of noncompliance in a school year, the behavior will be treated as Willful Disobedience and disciplinary action will be assigned at the discretion of school administration. Students will not be able to utilize cell phones during passing time or over the noon hour. They can be in possession of wired headphones to use during class time for use with laptops and with staff permission.
“From what I’m seeing, not all students are adhering to that policy because the cell phone is in their pockets, or in their backpack — it’s easily accessible during the school day,” said Dibble. “It’s not in the locker like it should be. We’re in year two, and I’ve been here long enough, so I want to enforce that part — that it needs to be not on their person.”
For a first offense the phone, Bluetooth headphones, personal computer, or I-pad will remain in the school office for the remainder of the day. For the second offense, the phone, Bluetooth headphones, personal computer, or I-pad will be sent to the TAHS office, and the device will need to be brought to the office upon arrival each morning for the next five days to be kept in the office for the whole school day. On the third offense, the student will be required to place their phone, Bluetooth headphones, personal computer, or I-pad in the office during school hours for a duration of 10 school days. If there is a fourth offense, the student will be required to place their device in the office during school hours for 15 school days. And a fifth offense will keep the student from their device during the school day for 20 days.
If a student does not put their device in the school office, he or she will be considered willfully disobedient and subject to further discipline. Students who bring multiple phones/devices to school while in a violation period will result in parent pick-up of the devices and detention will be assigned.
So, how does one enforce a rule that seems next to impossible to enforce? Actually, it comes down to staff and administration simply keeping their eyes open.
“You can see it in their pocket, or in their hoodie,” Dibble said. “I just say, ‘Hey, go turn your phone into the office.’ Ninety-nine percent of the time, the kids go and turn it into the office.”
Students who do need their phone for medical reasons are allowed to have them on their person during the day after being cleared by administration to do so.
As she is enforcing the rules at a more stringent level, Dibble is well aware that leaving a cell phone in a locker for seven straight hours is no easy task for many teenagers.
“Some of the kids have a really hard time being apart from their phone for a whole school day, a really hard time,” she said.
Dibble said research shows that students who don’t have their phones on them during the day, they learn better and have higher test scores. Keeping students from their phones, she said, is not meant to be looked at as a punishment.
“A certain portion of your brain capacity is thinking about what’s happening on your phone when it’s sitting in your pocket,” she said. “I want to follow the policy that’s there — we had a good start on it last year — and I want to finish putting that policy into place the way it was meant to be.”
The caveat then becomes, even if a phone is tucked away in a locker, who’s to say the student isn’t thinking about what they might be missing on their phone.
“I’m sure they are still thinking about it, but not nearly as much as when it’s close by,” said Dibble.
Some schools’ policy, Dibble added, does allow kids to carry their phones when outside of the classroom, such as at lunch, or allow students to have their phone on their person — it’s known as the “no-show” policy. However, she firmly believes that allowing zero contact with a phone during the school day is the best way to go — no gray areas.
“It’s not as effective as more restrictive policies like ours are,” Dibble said. “Also, if all students are on board doing the same thing, they’re not missing out. When all of their friends have their phones put away, too, they know they’re not missing anything. I think it’s harder to enforce when you allow it during certain times of the day.”
Many students, she said, even feel some sense of relief when not tied to their phone. Her end goal is to not just have the policy in place, but to ensure all students follow it.
On the first day of this new enforcement, Dibble said she saw hardly any offenses by the junior high kids; it was the older students who had a little more difficult time cutting the cord, if only for seven hours.
“That first day, there were definitely more senior high kids carrying it around in their pocket,” she said. “But the kids have been awesome. If I tell them to take their phone to the office, they turn it into (school secretary) Kim (Torkelson). And the vast majority of parents are in support of it.”
