Before the start of the new school year, the RCHS administration decided to ban cell phones from the premises due to essesive texting and phone usage by students.

Students first heard of this new regulation when they came to RCHS to pick up their schedules at the start of the year. Students received a paper notifying them that cell phones were no longer allowed in the building during school hours. The new rules dictated that if a student is caught handling a cell phone between 8 AM and 3 PM, the device will be confiscated only to be released to the student’s parent or guardian as stated by the Rockcastle County policy.

The new policy also states that students who need a cell phone for after school activities may turn in and retrieve cell phones from the front office before and after school hours. Students who drive must leave their cell phones in their vehicle.

Mrs. Mattingly stated, "Last year we had more violations with cell phones than we ever had before." Last year, RCHS tried a different policy than ever before, allowing students to carry cell phones throughout the day so long as those devices were not used or seen during school hours. However, according to Mattingly, that policy did not work because some students were quick to use their phones while classes were in session. "We know they went into the bathroom stalls and text," Mrs. Mattingly said.

Rockcastle County Schools has a district policy that states that cell phone regulations can be enforced but leaves it up to each school to decide how serious or lenient its policy will be.

According to the RCHS office, another major problem last year was that the education of students was suffering due to the constant cell phone and texting problems. In reference to last year, there were 93 incidents of disciplinary action taken because of cell phones, which the office states required a lot of attention from teachers and administrators and took students out of class.

The new policy, which was enacted by the Site Based Council, does not allow students to be in possession of a cell phone during the school day.

Mrs. Mattingly believes that the new policy is having an effect on the number of incidences involving cell phone usage at school. Compared to the staggering number of violations last year, this year it’s been better, Mattingly said. One of those reasons why might be because at the beginning of the year, teachers were instructed to inform and remind students about the new cell phone policy, and the new regulations are clearer where cell phone use are concerned.