All 12 members of the newspaper staff agree that the phone ban set for next year is completely unnecessary and a recipe for disaster.

There are a million reasons that this is not going to work.

While little is known about the ban, it’s assumed that phones will not be on anyone’s person at all.

If we had phones in our backpacks, there would be less of an issue because they’re nearby in case of emergencies.

So, what if there is an emergency?

Nobody has their phone.

Imagine how many more fatalities there would be if no one called the police.

How is the school allowed to take our phones but still hold us completely liable if something happens to them in their possession?

If there is a fire and all of our phones are destroyed, is the school responsible for paying for all of the phones?

If not, that will cause an uproar from students and parents, as it simply doesn’t make sense.

What about owners of Apple/electronic watches? Are they going to take those away too?

There are so many research projects and other assignments that require students to look things up online, but numerous websites are blocked on the Chromebooks. 

Even literal news websites.

So what do we use?

Our phones.

What about the parents that stay in contact with their kids throughout the day for any reason?

Many parents are not going to be happy about having no contact with their child from 7:55 a.m. to 3:10 p.m., which is a majority of the day.

What if a family emergency happens at 8 a.m.?

One of the newspaper staff members, Keeley Chance, is a Type 1 diabetic. Her phone alerts her when her blood sugar is high or low.

If the ban happens, there must be exceptions, because there is no way that they are going to take a resource that is helping to keep people like Keeley alive.

When you walk down the hallway, you’re bound to see dozens of people wearing headphones or AirPods.

Listening to music helps so many people focus and helps with anxiety sometimes.

Imagine how anxious people are going to get when they have no access to music or anyone to talk to.

Panic attacks, anxiety attacks and other mental health issues take place during the school day every day.

Having no form of outside communication during that could end badly.

There are so many different ways that this could go badly, and there will definitely be backlash against the school board with the phone ban, no matter what direction they decide to take it.