Hooray, it’s a brand new year at Grand Center Arts Academy and everyone is excited. Not only for the field trips and school wide incentives planned but also to learn. That being said we all know that a new school year always comes with brand new set of rules and expectations for everyone. And it’s safe to say some people do not 100% agree with the new rules set in place

The expectation that received the most attention would be the new cellphone policy. As most people would know school is a place for learning, so it’s pretty standard for smartphones to at least be put away during instruction. But despite knowing that many of the students are still very upset, when talking to people about it, a decent group of people were upset about the intensity of of the punishment. The policy states that if you are warned more than once the teacher has permission to take your phone and hand it off to the office for a parent to pick up. Many of the upper class men were not too pressed on the way the punishment works, but felt that the fact that it would be strictly enforced throughout all of the high school. They say that it doesn’t make sense for them to have the same expectations and punishments because of the difference in maturity. On top of that, a majority of the seniors won’t even have to have their parents pick up there phone from the office because they’re 18. On the other hand, the teachers make the argument that even though a good amount of the upperclassmen do their work, there is still a group of them who stay on there phones during class and don’t know what to do when grades come around. The big thing about the policy, as expressed at the assembly, is that it will be enforced a lot more. It was such a big topic that teachers and substitutes have claimed they’ve gotten in trouble for not enforcing it. Cases like using them in hallways and even in bathrooms are now against the rules and staff even roam the halls to make sure students aren’t on their phones.