Starting in the 2024-25 school year, Punahou administration implemented a new Academy phone policy that prohibits students from using their phones during class without their teacher’s permission. It aims to simplify class management for teachers and enhance students’ learning, including their social and emotional development.
The policy began developing in the Summer of 2023 with email threads between teachers about concerns regarding student phone use in class. Many teachers reported having to constantly remind students to stay off their devices.
This concern led to discussions among faculty members, including deans, teachers, department heads, the Academy student council, and the PFA. Soon, they reached a consensus for a new policy, which states: “Academy students may not have a personal device out in classroom settings, unless instructed to do so by their teacher for educational purposes. Failure to comply with this policy may result in a temporary forfeiture of the student’s device and constitute a citizenship infraction.”
Mr. Paul Hamamoto, an academy English teacher, was one of the teachers concerned about student phone use.
“I walk through the halls, and there’s a group of six kids not talking to each other–they’re all staring into their phones,” he said. “I think it [the policy] was the first step in the much bigger question about: can the school do anything to help students better control their own phone use?”
He also noticed that discussions over phone use were becoming a national trend among educational journals.
“More and more articles were coming out about what phones, social media, and connectivity were doing to students in terms of brain development and learning,” he said. “So it was both about what was happening at Punahou and what was happening across the nation.”
Like Mr. Hamamoto, Academy Principal Gustavo Carrera emphasized the importance of the phone policy for students’ emotional well-being.
“One of our biggest concerns is the use of social media,” said Principal Carerra. “If you see a posting on Instagram that distresses you, you’re not gonna be able to concentrate in class. I think what moved many teachers was the combination of emotional distress that being on social media during the day can cost a student, in addition to the educational loss.”
Since the phone policy began, Mr. Hamamoto has noticed its benefits through conversations with teachers and parents.
“I’ve had a bunch of teachers tell me that it’s been helpful,” said Mr. Hamamoto. “They’re not having to battle students that are looking at their phones, or are taking their phones out for bathroom breaks and being gone for 10 minutes. So, in terms of the learning environment, I think it’s improved that.”
“The other benefit, [is that] I heard from a couple of the parents in my homeroom that they’ve instituted [phone] guidelines at home. So I think the school policy has also encouraged parents to decide how they’re going to set up policies for their family life.”
Mr. Hamamoto also believes that the policy will have a symbolic benefit on the students with their technology management: “If students are able to realize, ‘Oh yeah, I can go without my phone for 90 minutes straight,’ [it gives them] that ability to say, ‘I need to be focused on this thing, I know I am able to put my phone aside.”
Principal Carrera had hoped the Academy never needed such a rule in the first place.
“I hope the policy has minimal impact–you can use that emphasis in the article,” he said. “Ideally, our students wouldn’t have been illegitimately using their phones in the classroom beforehand.”