How the Students of Baltimore City Would Change the Phone Policy

By Amir Muhammad | December 2, 2025

This year, Baltimore City Public Schools has adopted a no-phone policy across all city schools. The policy states that your phone needs to be in a secure place at all times during the school day, or else they will take your phone, place it into a Ziploc bag, and give it to your grade-level administrator for you to pick up at the end of the day. It doesn’t stop at phones, however; teachers and staff at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute have started confiscating wireless headphones, iPads, and Nintendo devices.

Phones have admittedly become a distraction for some students during the school day, but taking devices that are not phones, such as wireless headphones, can hinder the ability to watch assigned videos during class, and some students may not have computers, so their iPads may be the only viable option for them.

To completely understand the feelings of high school students, I asked the question: How would you change the phone policy to make it better for yourself as a student?

The interviews below have been edited for length and clarity.

The policy is ineffective at controlling students who consistently break rules, and rather punishes students who use their phones semi- if not productively in classes. There are times when teachers need students to scan QR codes and take pictures of work, which leads to hiccups. Phones can be useful tools in classrooms if used correctly, and I think adaptations to the policy can be made through reforming what types of cell phone use are punishable. Using phones disruptively in class as distractions is a clear issue that the policy will continue to address, but each class should have some sort of control over what is considered disruptive. Using phones to listen to music during asynchronous work or to take a picture and submit work online are things to consider.  — Jordan Manley / Baltimore Polytechnic Institute / 12th Grade

If I would change the phone policy to make it better, I would at least let phones be allowed during lunches because that's literally your break time. You should be able to have your phone out, too, if you aren’t doing anything in your classes.  — Bsant Mohamed / Baltimore Polytechnic Institute / 12th Grade

Allow for the usage of phones during lunch and advisory. Students will get a warning to put their device away instead of it immediately getting taken on first offense, and phones will be given back at the end of class when taken unless it's the 4th offense.  — Anonymous / Baltimore Polytechnic Institute Student / 12th Grade

I would change the phone policy to be a bit more lenient, yet still enforce it. So I would make it so that you wouldn’t necessarily have to put it in your locker, but definitely have it away during class times, and that students would be able to access their phones freely during transition periods and lunch times. However, if a student repeatedly uses their phone during class time without a valid reason and is not permitted by the faculty member in charge, the teacher is able to confiscate the device until the end of the class period. If the student, however, has to get their phone taken at least three times by the same faculty member, the faculty member will be able to take the phone to the main office, where the student's parents must pick up the phone.  — Daje Byers / Baltimore Polytechnic Institute / 11th Grade

I think the phone policy is often a good thing. Most students break the rules and don’t put their phones in the pouches, but despite this, I do believe that phone usage is down, and students only use their phones occasionally. With this in mind, I would say that the policy is still effective in the way that it keeps students engaged and off their phones during class. However, I think students should be allowed to use their personal devices during breaks, such as lunch periods, because it doesn’t cause a disruption to learning.  — Samir Balima / Baltimore City College / 12th Grade

Honestly, for me, I'm probably the only person who follows the phone policy at City. I think it would be better if they had some sort of mandated app that controlled certain apps, but that seems like it would run into privacy problems. So honestly, I think if they really want to control phones, they just need to make more assignments on paper, because pretty much all the problems with phones also just come into play with computers.  — Anonymous / Baltimore City College / 12th Grade

A few shorter interviews took place, and some comments that were commonly agreed with were: High schools across the city made schools phone-friendly by implementing things like QR codes into class instruction. At Poly, there has been a QR code system to report bullying or anything else that is going on with students anonymously. Without phones, the use of that system is now completely out of the question and creates an unsafe school environment for those too scared to speak up.