The 2024-2025 school year has brought immense change to Woodford County’s staff, especially its student body. The first returning administration team for WCHS in years has all hands on deck to make Woodford a safer, more productive, and more constructive environment for everyone. Let’s take a closer look at the newfound Woodford County cellphone policy, a prior year’s speculation that has been brought to fruition.

The SBDM (Site Based Decision Making) Committee meets once a month to vote on all things Woodford County. Members include the principal, a few teachers, and a few parental figures. Community members are welcome to attend these meetings, voice their opinions, and propose new ideas. This rarely happens, however, as they are not widely advertised. The SBDM greatly values parental involvement and ideas. 

The SBDM utilizes the Woodford County Student Handbook in all decision-making. The “Cellphone and Personal Electronic Devices” chapter takes place on pages 13 and 14 of the handbook: “Any student refusing to turn a cellphone or any device over to a teacher will be removed from class to AIMES. A student’s refusal to turn over to AIMES may be suspended up to 5 days for defiance.” Currently, cell phones are still permitted in Woodford County High School. However, rules are becoming stricter than ever. Students have a lot of freedom left to abuse and eventually lose. Speculation is that the SBDM looks to have potential lockers or pouches for students to put their cell phones in throughout the school day. This strategy has taken place in various states throughout the country. While implementing cell phone pouches would undoubtedly stop the negative effects of cell phones in schools, it is crucial to consider the drastic dangers that this can bring to our students.

Removing a cell phone from a student throughout the school day is an invasion of privacy and freedom. Why should a student have to hand over a device he or she owns? Why are school districts legally able to perform this action? Something has to be done. The abusive relations between cell phones and students are concerning in learning environments and should entirely be taken into account, but not in the sense that a young adult is stripped of their devices for hours at a time. Every student is different and reserves the right to access their cell phone for personal and safety reasons throughout the school day. So what can you do, WCHS?

1. Respect current policy: Respecting and abiding by the current cell phone policy is an amazing way to ensure that SBDM or the Woodford County School Board takes no further action. Different teachers have different policies, so become familiar with these and don’t abuse your privilege. You never know when it could be taken away.
2. Attend SBDM Meetings: The SBDM meets on the second Thursday of every month at Woodford County High School. Anyone is welcome to attend and voice their opinions, so put yourself out there and make your voice heard. 
3. Consider classmates: Even if you don’t feel personally offended or unsafe by the potential risk of cell phone pouches, consider how hundreds of other students could be in different or worse situations than yourself. Your feelings of indifference on a topic could be another person’s life or death, for lack of a better term. 

This is an ongoing story with further updates to come.