Mr. Willis Kallay doesn’t believe cell phones are a bad thing.

He just wants Stratford students to stay focused. And that is difficult when they are on their phones.

“There is all sorts of research from different angles and perspectives on what it can do for you if you have it and when you’re without it, it really just depends on the place, really just depends on the policy you put,” he said.

Mr. Kallay, who is assistant head of Upper School, introduced the idea of limiting cell phone use during the school day. Students arrived on campus in the fall, only to learn of the new policy. 

 “Sometimes you just have to put the policy in place and you don’t know if  it’s going to work until you try,’’ Mr. Kallay said. “We are trying it right now. If it’s a complete disaster, then we may have to go back to the drawing board. At this point, it seems everyone is getting into the routine of it, which is good.”

Senior Shorter McCook is not a fan of the new policy.

“I don’t like it. I don’t like how we can’t communicate with our parents throughout the day,’’ she said. “It is also inconvenient, when getting in touch with coaches. If our coaches text us about practice or a game cancelation, we don’t get to know until lunch which is very inconvenient.”

English teacher Mrs. Michelle Fleming believes phones are unnecessary for students during the school day. She said the new policy was put in place because last year’s phone pocket rule was not being consistently enforced.

“Some teachers were doing it and some teachers were not and so to make it consistent it was better to leave them in home room and no one has to worry about it seven times a day,’’ Mrs. Fleming said,.

Seniors, juniors and sophomores are allowed to have their phones after lunch. Freshmen are not. There are a few exceptions to the rule. Students who are in photography and yearbook to put their phones in that teacher’s classroom in the morning instead of their advisory. This way they have their phone if needed for that class. There is also an exception when a teacher allows use of a phone for their class for a project or assignment.