NORTHAMPTON, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Northampton students will soon have to put their phones away for the entire school day. The school committee voted 7-to-3 last week to approve a new bell-to-bell cell phone policy that will take effect this fall.

Starting on the first day of the next school year, Northampton students will no longer have access to their cell phones during the school day. The policy is set to bring the district into compliance ahead of pending state legislation requiring phone-free schools. “Currently, we don’t really have a clear policy at this point. Different schools had different approaches and this is a real opportunity to prepare us for what is coming from the state legislation,” said Alena Bartoli, vice chair of the Northampton School Committee. “I believe that’s the same language, that cell phones need to be inaccessible for the entire school day.”

Last year, Northampton Public Schools adopted an off-and-away policy, requiring students to keep their phones off during class, but allowing them to use them during other parts of the school day. Under the new policy, phones will be kept somewhere students cannot access them. “Inaccessible bell-to-bell policy, so what that means is during the school day, cell phones will be somewhere that students cannot access,” Bartoli added.

Some students said they are not convinced a full ban is necessary. One Northampton High School junior said students currently use their phones for more than just social media. “Yeah, that’s pretty frustrating. I think a lot of kids use their phone to choose where they wanna go for the next classes or during flex. There’s an app called My Learning and that’s where we decide where to go,” said Madden Hatouen, a Northampton High School junior.

He added flex is a period where students can make up work or meet with teachers, with locations currently scheduled through a phone app. “So if we can’t schedule it, I’m not really sure how we’ll be able to go to the place,” Hatouen noted.

Bartoli said the district’s new superintendent will be tasked with working out those details over the summer as the policy is finalized. Students said they believe the current rules are already working. “Yeah, I think what we have right now, it’s fine. It’s not too much of a distraction and if kids are abusing it, then the teacher will just take the phone away, but I don’t think we need to change the rules,” Hatouen explained.

Bartoli noted the school committee has been discussing cell phone use for more than a year. She said even some student representatives eventually supported a bell-to-bell policy as research on social media and phone use continued to grow. She added the committee’s goal is to separate the conversation about digital technology from the issue of cell phone access during the school day.

The new policy will apply to students across the district and is set to take effect on the first day of the new school year. School officials said they will spend the summer working out details including how phones will be stored and how students will access programs they currently use on their devices.

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