With the introduction of the 2025-2026 school year, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has implemented a new policy restricting the use of cell phones and personal mobile devices for students. For high schools, including B-CC, a new policy enforcing cell-phone holders restricts phone usage during instructional time. Students must put their phones “Up and Away” for all of class time; phone usage is only permitted during lunch time and class transitions.
Backlash has arisen from this new policy, especially following safety incidents last year. Two of these reported incidents were due to gun threats. Allowing students to be near their phones, even during drills, is vital: “…[it] ensures that we can contact our family and stay in touch with information,” says freshman Gianna George. George attended Westland Middle School last year, where the policy was less strictly enforced. She mentions that she feels safer walking out of the classroom with her phone nearby. “I think the stricter BCC phone policy definitely reduces distractions, but I don’t like that they get left in classrooms during emergency drills or carried outside for P.E.,” she stated.
Some students, on the other hand, have felt a new sense of productivity due to the new policy. Without the constant reminder of a dopamine-releasing doomscroll just a foot away, Junior Max Mandell has done more work than ever before.
“I do feel more productive in class without my phone, as I don’t feel the need to pick it up and use it every second. I used to switch between my phone and computer as a break. Now, I finish most of my work in class,” Mandell states.
The MCPS new phone policy has been a long time coming — one that has been debated among the school board for over half a decade. It all started in 2019 when Frederick County Board member Lois Jarman proposed a total ban on phone use during school hours. The previous policy enabled individual schools to choose their own regulations. Jarman, a former world language teacher in the Frederick District, witnessed abuse of screens in her classroom and strived for a change. She testified to the school board throughout 2019, but faced minimal success. While FCPS neglected these progressive pleas, Montgomery County Schools were quick to notice the problem. The constant innovation of new technology had seeped its way into schools and was beginning to interfere with learning. The Maryland Board of Education even tried to create a task force to study the effects of cell phones on learning. While this effort failed and no local data could be gathered, teachers across Montgomery County saw attention spans shorten and grades drop.
This progression led MCPS to its first major policy: banning phone use in elementary and middle schools, and allowing high school principals to create custom technology plans. This general structure lasted a couple of years and was gradually updated until 2024. In January of 2024, MCPS piloted the “All Day Away” initiative. This was implemented at certain schools to test a stricter full phone-ban policy, with plans to evaluate its effectiveness before expanding to all of MCPS. Once proven effective, the new regulations were rolled out to all high schools.
Here at B-CC, teachers tried to poke fun at a strict new situation with a catchy name. “Up, Up and Away,” as administrator Mrs. Fishel described, requires students to put their phones away in a class phone holder during instruction.
B-CC students can no longer play Brawl Stars or make lunch plans online after finishing their work, but the consensus remains generally positive. “I hate to admit it,” senior Grace Timmons remarks, “but I have been much more productive in my classes.” Timmons expressed dissatisfaction over having a new policy come into play in her senior year. Yet, she adds, “It forces me to work on my college apps, which is very beneficial.”
Doing more work after finishing in-class assignments definitely doesn’t sound like a positive, but Barons have found themselves having more social interactions and enjoying the little things here at B-CC. It might take some getting used to, but as cranky millennials always say, “No Wifi, talk to each other like it’s 1995!” Here’s to a new year of finishing work on time, getting to meet new Barons, and taking advantage of the present.
