The Upper School announced its new phone policy for the 2025-2026 school year in an email sent on Aug. 8. Beginning this fall, students who bring phones to campus will be required to install Opal, a screen time app that blocks access to video games and social media. This marks a significant shift from last year’s policy, under which students were granted unrestricted use of phones. The school said the guidelines were based on findings showing most students would voluntarily opt into restrictions like Opal, particularly if doing so would allow them to continue to access essential phone functions.
Head of Communications and Strategic Initiatives Ari Engelberg ’89 said in recent years, administrators of the school have grown increasingly concerned about antisocial student behavior attributable to cell phone use, warranting an intervention from the school.
“During students’ free time at lunch or break 10 or 20 years ago, you would go down to the Quad and see eight or 10 people sitting around a table talking with one another,” Engelberg said. “Now, when you go down to the Quad, you’ll see eight or 10 people at a table, and all of them will be on cell phones. They may be doing things that you would consider to be productive and not distracting, but we also know that some of it is either social media, games or other sources of distraction.”
Head of Upper School Beth Slattery said the school’s status as one of the only remaining campuses in Los Angeles without cell phone restrictions further convinced her it was time for the school to act, even if it chose to allow continued phone use on campus with restrictions.
“We were one of the only schools left out there that didn’t already [implement] a phone policy, and also a bunch of schools in the area created a coalition,” Slattery said. “It seemed like the time was right and that we had to try something because we do know that it’s not great for you.”
Engelberg said this policy stemmed from the school’s belief that its nuanced approach would help students develop a more responsible relationship with devices.
“These kinds of phone restrictions are spreading across the country – everything from phone-free schools to schools that require you to put your phone in a bag or in a locker to what we’re doing at Harvard-Westlake, which we actually think is a bit more sophisticated,” Engelberg said. “We’re allowing students to continue to possess their devices and even use them when it’s appropriate. We think that that’s a more mature approach, and will ultimately help students develop a better relationship with the device.”
President Rick Commons said while upperclassmen may face a difficult transition from a lenient phone policy to a stricter one, he hopes they will ultimately welcome the change by appreciating how it can strengthen connections.
“I believe we’ve gotten to a place in our society where we’re too focused on the devices in our pockets and not enough on each other,” Commons said. “I would acknowledge that this is a tough [change], especially for the juniors and the seniors who have experienced a freedom to regulate themselves, independent of any policy other than what’s in the classrooms. I’m really hoping there will be a cultural shift where the seniors broadly embrace the idea that this has good science as well as good culture, that we’re just going to keep our phones in our bags and allow this change, as difficult as it is, to take place.”
Ivy Wang ’26 said she was not surprised by the school’s decision to implement a new phone policy and that the use of Opal was preferable to other stricter measures.
“There were a lot of false rumors that we were going to use pouches and that we would lock [our phones] away, so I don’t think it was that big of a surprise that we were going to use Opal,” Wang said. “It’s better than having a pouch. I’m still kind of against it, but I feel like our school really set their heart on doing it.”
Jonah Greenfeld ’27, a longtime user of Opal, said that while the student body may initially be hesitant to accept the changes to the new phone policy, it will overall benefit all students.
“I do think students may have an initial negative reaction and push back, I think we as a student body will come to realize that Opal will help us stay focused and not procrastinate as much,” Greenfeld said. “I used it before because it did all those things. It helped me be able to focus. It was like an external source of discipline.”
For any of the school’s students who have not yet installed Opal, the app is available to be downloaded on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Google Play Store for Android users. It is required that all students block specific apps and scan in to the app each school day. The school’s new phone policy took immediate effect on the first day of classes, but its long-term impact on student life, productivity, community and campus culture, however, remain to be seen.
