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Technology and Internet Use

We understand that it is advisable for some students to have cell phones and other personal electronic devices in their possession to keep in touch with their parents or other caregivers in certain circumstances following their dismissal from school. Students whose parents think they should have cell phones or other devices available may bring them to school, but they must follow these rules. Failure to comply shall result in the loss of the privilege of bringing a cell phone or other device to school. 

  • Upon arrival at school, the cell phone or other device— including Apple Watches and other smartwatches— must be turned off and put away in the student’s locker, backpack, or cubby (not desk) or, on the MacArthur Campus, turned in to the Middle School Receptionist and Administrative Assistant. Personal electronic devices may be not used during the day until after the student’s dismissal from school. Dismissal, in this circumstance, refers to the student’s full departure from campus.
  • Students who remain for Extended Day or After-School Activities, or who are on campus for sports or for any other reason after regular dismissal, may not use their cell phones or other device—including Apple Watches and other smartwatches—until dismissal from that activity. Middle School students may not use their cell phones or other devices on the MacArthur Campus shuttle bus in the morning or afternoon or on athletic buses traveling to practices and games.
  • If students need to telephone their parents at any time during the school day, from arrival through dismissal (as above), they must ask a teacher to use a classroom phone or a member of the staff to use an office phone for that purpose. Only at dismissal time and with the approval of a staff member may students use their cell phone or other device to contact parents. Likewise, parents needing to convey messages to students during the school day should contact the School Office or leave a voicemail message on the homeroom teacher’s classroom phone. 
  • A cell phone or personal electronic device—including Apple Watches and other smartwatches—in evidence during the school day, either heard or seen, will be confiscated and returned to the student at day’s end, but with the understanding that the student may no longer bring a cell phone or other device to school. 
  • Students who rely on electronic personal organizers to keep track of assignments and other responsibilities and students who read books on eReaders may do so during the day, as long as students have received permission from their advisor or homeroom teacher and the device is not used for any other functions, such as texting, cell phone calls, electronic games, or music.
  • Similarly, students who rely on personal electronic devices to manage chronic illness may use these devices for this purpose.
  • Consistent with the Day School’s policy concerning the personal property of students, the School will assume no responsibility for the care and safekeeping of student cell phones or personal electronic devices. Students themselves will bear all such responsibility. Parents should weigh this reality with the perceived benefits of students having a cell phone or personal electronic device in their possession before deciding whether to allow students to bring such devices to school.