Ponce De Leon High School to install phone lockers for 6th-8th grade
Ponce de Leon High School is making some changes to its cell phone policy for the next school year.
Starting this year, students in 6th-8th grade will have the option to store their phones in a locker made specifically for the devices.
This change follows the signing of a new law by Governor Ron DeSantis on May 30, 2025. This new law prohibits the use of cellphones by elementary and middle school students. The law does not state that students are not allowed to carry their phones, but districts and schools have the ability to make stricter codes if they deem it necessary.
Principal Anissa Locke hopes that by removing devices from the students’ days, they will begin to engage with each other more.
“Technology is all around us every day, and that’s what kids depend on. A few years ago, we were allowing our students to use their phones during lunchtime. So we just played a little bit with it, and we said, you know, let’s go for nine weeks without them using their phones at lunchtime. And it was remarkable how they started to have conversations with each other,” Principal Locke said.
While the use of the lockers is voluntary at first, the students will still be expected to follow the school’s previous policy of keeping it out of sight and on silent during the day. There will be a series of consequences that follow each occurrence of a student being seen using their device.
Under the new policy, students caught using their phones for the first time will be given a warning, and their parents will be notified. The second time the student is caught using their phone will result in another warning and parent notification. At this time, the school will also give the parent the option to go ahead and decide to place their child’s phone in a locker during the day.
Upon a third offense, the student will be required to use an assigned phone locker. If it happens a fourth time, the disciplinary action follows the same guidelines as the high school policy, which works its way up from a warning at the first offense to the fifth, resulting in a day of in-school suspension.
These lockers will be located in the hallways under security cameras so that the administration can monitor them during the day.
Administration knows that this will not be a seamless transition, but they believe that students will be able to benefit from these phone lockers.
To find out more, contact Ponce De Leon High School or check out their Facebook page.