Cell phone-free Aspen High School encourages conversation, learning and some resistance

Chatter echoes through the halls of Aspen High School, with no cell phones in sight.

“I’ll tell you what – the decibel level in the halls… all those kids laughing outside,” said Sarah Strassburger, principal of the high school. “Last year they would all have been on the phone.”

Two months after Aspen High School implemented a zero-tolerance policy regarding student cellphone use, staff said they have seen more social interaction among students and more concentration. But students are still undecided.

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Aspen School District Superintendent Tharyn Mulberry said the new policy has improved student engagement.

“Kids are present and paying attention to the conversation in front of them rather than the conversation at their hip,” Mulberry said, adding, “You actually hear something you didn’t hear before — noise.”

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He sent out an email before the start of the 2024-25 school year in which he listed three main reasons for implementing the new policy: improving concentration and learning, improving social interactions, and improving mental health and well-being.

Regarding focus and cell phones, Mulberry said when they made the decision they referenced a number of national studies that found students’ cell phone use significantly impacts their ability to learn.

“They found that you can’t concentrate deeply or clearly when you’re in multiple directions of attention (and focus),” he said.

In the past, there was a cell phone-free policy, but it was not enforced. Before the change, Strassburger gave students two weeks to prove they could handle cell phone use, Strassburger said.

“There were 75 violations every day,” she said.

Now staff confiscate cell phones immediately until a parent can pick up the phone at the office. This can sometimes take days if the parent chooses not to come straight away.

“There are a few that test you,” Mulberry said of students who violate the guidelines. “Once their parents have to pick it up, they won’t do it again.”

Since the cell phone free policy was introduced, he and Strassburger said they have only seen benefits.

“We no longer have our teachers and students wasting their class time arguing over a cell phone,” Strassburger said. “They are focused; They’re in class.”

Chemistry and environmental science teacher Scott Zevin said he appreciated the policy and the way students behaved accordingly.

“They responded really well to expectations,” said Zevin. “And they are regularly much more engaged.”

He said he asked a group of his students if they thought the policy helped them focus.

“They agreed: ‘Yes,’” he quoted the students as saying. “‘Even though we sometimes say it’s a hassle, we agree that not having our phones constantly accessible is a good thing.'”

But some AHS students are not enthusiastic about the new regulation.

“I just feel like it infantilizes us. I’m an adult and I’m not allowed to have my cell phone. “It’s just very condescending,” senior Clare Williams said of the new policy. “I feel like it makes me have less respect for the authority of the school because they don’t give me the respect that I feel I deserve.”

Freshman Logan Novak said the cell phone freedom policy makes it difficult for her to deal with her disability.

“Because of this phone ban, I can’t stay in touch with my parents and keep track of what I need,” Novak said.

Senior Madison Nelson added that the school should only enforce a cell phone ban on students who don’t follow the rules.

“Accept natural consequences, reject collective punishment,” Nelson said.

However, some AHS students have noticed an increase in natural conversation and concentration without personal screens being prevalent on campus.

“I feel like it’s nice to walk around and people are actually talking to each other,” senior Kellar Leach said.

Junior Jim Chuluun said not having access to a phone leads to engagement outside of class.

“Instead of having an excuse not to talk to anyone,” Chuluun said. “At least you might as well do something while eating.”

Although junior Blake Christensen said he believes the school was functioning well before the policy was implemented, he believes there are benefits to having a campus without cell phones.

“I think school is a place where you should learn, and you should focus on the things outside of it,” Christensen said.

Marc Whitley, a physics and theory of knowledge teacher who suggested Strassburger and Mulberry take an “all-or-nothing” approach to the new phone policy, said that since the policy was adopted, he has felt that students should communicate with each other and be more engaged with employees.

“Kids say ‘hello’ and ‘good morning,'” Whitley said. “That didn’t happen at all before because they were all on their cell phones on the way to class.”

Reach Skyler Stark-Ragsdale at 970-429-9152 or email him at [email protected].