By Shayna Freisleben

Teachers in Rugby have been strictly enforcing the cell phone rule over the past few weeks, posting warning signs throughout the building and threatening cell phone confiscation.

The intensification of cell phone enforcement was caused by the increase in cell phone use in the hall, disrupting English classes and breaking the pre-existing indoor anti-cell phone rule.

English teacher Eric Schrode was the main proponent in the English Department “spearheading the enforcement, and writing and posting the signs,” according to Department chair Larry Weber.

“The cell phone enforcement is not a new rule, it’s the rule that has always existed,” Schrode said.
The standing school cell phone policy permits cell phone use outdoors during school hours, but bans use in any school building.

The signs were posted as a reminder for students who had defied the rule and who would remain in Rugby during the day due to locker location or various classes.

“Rugby had become a high traffic zone for texting and chatting,” Weber said.  “The inadvertent phone ring was one thing, but students on their phones between classes or during frees had become tough to overlook.”

The canary-hued signs plastered on doors through the hall state the consequences of any visible cell phone in Rugby during the 7:30 a.m. – 2:35 p.m. school day: a 24-hour confiscation.

Weber, who himself has not confiscated any cell phones, said, “Issues with cell phones seem to have improved in the last few weeks.”