(WHTM) — As students prepare to head back to class, many school districts are implementing no cell phone policies for the upcoming school year.

“We hear a lot about concerns about student bullying online,” said Dr. Stacy Winslow, Superintendent of the Derry Township School District. “We hear concerns about student mental health, and we hear concerns about students being distracted and not focused in classes.”

So, to address these issues, many schools, like Derry Township in Dauphin County, are limiting one piece of technology.

“Students will be issued a reminder every morning, you know, we are a bell to bell no cell school, and they have to turn them off, put them away, secure them so that they’re not a distraction,” Winslow added.

Winslow tells abc27 News this rule primarily impacts high schoolers.

“They’re not super excited about it,” said Winslow. “Students have been allowed to have their cell phones in possession. In some classes, it was very teacher driven. We had read in green zones previously and in green zone, students were allowed to have their phones accessible and on. Going forward, we don’t have red and green zones anymore.”

There is a mixed reaction from Hershey High School students, who say they will follow similar cell phone regulations this school year.

“I think that it’s going to be a hard transition because a lot of the kids at our school are really addicted to their phones,” said Senior Kelsey Cartee. “But I think it’s going to be good for like attention sake, for even getting like some grades up at our school. I think it’s going to be like, beneficial.”

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Nittany Insiders

Senior Tahaani Khan added, “I do think that it’s a little excessive to not let us have our phones and study our minds just because it’s like our free time and we should be able to do what we want by that time.”

Winslow says the goal of these regulations is to bring the students together, “We hope that students have a much stronger sense of community with one another, that they’re not they’re not collaborating electronically or that they’re collaborating in-person, that they’re learning to find joy in one another’s in-person company again.”

The first day of school for Derry Township and Hershey High School is Monday, Aug. 26.

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