Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Palotti talks about the impact, and Hornell’ head start
By Sonya Ellison,
As schools across the state go phone-free for class time, Hornell High School has already done away with devices during the school day for over a year now.
Last year, Hornell High students began putting away cell phones, headphones and earbuds in their lockers during the instructional school day from about 8AM. to 3 PM.
This was part of a new policy Hornell High implemented to ban cell phones during class time to improve academic and social engagement.
Superintendent Jeremy Palotti says a year later, the change has been positive and mostly accepted.
“I would say it really was successful. There was some banter during the summer before we had that process in place but truthfully we had more parents, based on the court of public opinion, that were in support of the concept of that…” Palotti explains.
Before the phone ban that began in Fall of 2024, Hornell High School created “red” and “green” zones to limit phone use a couple years before.
Hornell High followed other schools like Wellsville Central School, where a similar phone-free policy began for the 2023-2024 school year.
Now, schools statewide observed the same electronic-free days of learning as the first day of classes began.
“I think most folks out there acknowledge that there isn’t a place for a kid to be on their devices in social settings and that sort of thing during the school day. They recognize that a distraction can occur. There are some folks that have concerns from a safety standpoint.” Superintendent Palotti says.
A 2024 Pew Research Poll found 72 percent of high school teachers in the US cited students being distracted by cell phones as a major problem in their classroom.
Palotti attests deterring cell phone usage during class improves the learning experience:
“The reality is the idea of being distracted. You’re distracted when you’re waiting for a ‘ding’ or your phone to vibrate or do something and you become engaged in wondering what that is. When you don’t have to always be ready to click or scroll or whatever then you’re naturally going to be more focused on whatever else is going on. And in our case, we’d like them to pay attention to the teaching or working or collaborating with their friends or classmates.”
Hornell High has reported an improvement in behavior, overall, since this new policy started.
“We really, from the bullying and harassment standpoint, the amount of infractions and negative interactions we had to deal with went down exponentially from the year prior.” Palotti shares. “Honestly for any challenge or concern we had, what we gained was kids interacting and talking with each other. More social interactions and less distractedness during the instructional day and also during passing time in the hallways.”
Another major benefit is more focus, engagement and positive interactions.
“I would definitely say it’s been a success from our vantage point as far as helping kids be more engaged and learning, which is why they’re here, and it’s also helped them be more social- which is another big part of it.” Palotti told The Sun. “We want people to be able to talk to other humans and adults. It’s definitely been more productive in that way.”
He assures that all classrooms have phones and offices have made provisions that if kids need to communicate with parents, there’s a process to do so.
As devices are put away all day, Hornell High School uses Parent Square as a resource allowing teachers and staff to send parents both emergency and non-emergency notifications and information where they can reply back.
“The banning of cell phones has nothing to do with our communication with parents,” said Palotti. “We have great systems and tools in place to better communicate.” says Superintendent Palotti.
Palotti says the biggest challenge of this new policy has been consistency.
“Like with anything, it’s being consistent. It’s making sure we’re all on board and we’re all engaged and we’re treating all situations consistently within the school….and that comes with the implementation of any policy.” says the Hornell Superintendent.
The students, however, have reacted well to the change.
“There is a general widespread acceptance of it with the parents and students. Do they like it?I haven’t gotten that survey out there yet but it has been accepted and really has done well for us in terms of positive impacts on the school day.” shares Palotti.
But how do the parents feel?
“Generally, it was successful ….We didn’t have tons of people calling in praise or support but we didn’t have many fighting with us and arguing with us. Is that compliance? Is that acceptance? Is that support? It’s hard to say…All I can say is the effect it had on our school day with certain positives.”
Sonya Ellison is a Steuben County reporter with experience covering local government and community news. You can reach her anytime, ms.sonyann@gmail.com
