Junior Mason Stoddard checks Snapchat at a reporter’s request at a Saranac Lake Red Storm baseball game on Friday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — Saranac Lake High School banned cellphones before it was cool.

The still-yet-to-be-approved state budget includes a “bell-to-bell” ban on smartphones in schools across the state, but SLHS has already been doing this since the start of the 2023 school year.

At graduation last June, SLHS Principal Josh Dann said he felt the policy went over well, after a challenging start. The policy’s been controversial among the students it affects and some of their parents, and it’s certainly gone through some growing pains, Dann said. But administrators and even some students say it’s for the best and has improved school. At the very least, Dann said it’s made the hallways louder.

Previously, school policy was that students could have phones in non-academic areas — hallways, study halls, the cafeteria. But while discussing this in a faculty meeting one day, Dann said they realized students were still on their phones around a third of the day.

They decided to just “rip the Band-Aid off” and blanket-ban phone use during school.

“We felt the cellphones were getting in the way of them being successful in school,” Dann said.

Listening to music, watching movies or keeping a Snapchat streak alive are all appropriate, if the work is done, Dann said. But he found phones led to procrastination.

SLHS bans phone usage from the time students arrive until dismissal. Students usually keep the phones in their pockets or bags — Dann said students don’t use seem to use lockers much after the coronavirus pandemic. Things are a bit easier for SLHS — the building barely has any cell phone service anyway. The WiFi password is changed regularly to avoid it being figured out and disseminated.

The change was toughest on the seniors last year, who had gone nearly their whole school years with some use of their phones. Dann’s daughter was one of them. He said they all thought the policy was crazy.

Elijah Schenk, who graduated last year, said though the cellphone ban didn’t feel great at first, he felt it was a good choice.

“It made paying attention much easier, not worrying about who posted this or who texted me,” Schenk said. “Yes, it makes people upset, but the people in question are mostly high school kids who have what is considered an addiction, maybe even a dependency, to their phone. Not to sound like an old man but staring at a phone for long periods of time really does rot your brain, as I experience it if I use my phone extensively.”

It was difficult coming out of the pandemic, when phone restrictions were “very loose,” he said, but “after a while I got used to it like any other policy or rule.”

“It even felt nice to just ignore my phone and choose other alternatives,” he said.

Dann said they faced only a little pushback from parents.

“They know we’re not doing this to be jerks,” he said. “We just feel its a healthy tactic for a school.”

The pushback they did get was from parents worried about what would happen in an emergency, if they’d be able to contact their child. Dann said they talked with local and state police about this and they said students need to be focused and present in an emergency.

“They said students shouldn’t be communicating with parents anyways during emergencies,” Dann said. “They should be listening to school authorities and listening for good directions.”

And the students?

“They hate it,” Dann said.

Current SLHS Junior Gabby Mitchell said the cell phone ban has been difficult.

“Having little breaks to play my games, I had to get used to not having that,” she said.

She misses these mental breaks, especially during lunch. This has been the schoolwide sentiment since the ban started two years ago, she said.

“Oh, I was so mad,” Mitchell said. “All of the kids were so mad.”

The rule has strict enforcement, which Dann said takes vigilance from teachers. There are loopholes they’re trying to close. They’ve stopped giving warnings. If they see phones or headphones out, they confiscate them.

“They see your phone for just a split-second and they take it,” Mitchell said. “If you figure out the WiFi password, they take your phone right away.”

Junior Lilly Latham said one time her phone slid out of her pocket, so she looked at the time before she pushed it back in. But a teacher saw that and eventually she was threatened with suspension if she didn’t give up her phone.

“It was a whole fight, it was horrible,” she said.

Latham said she feels for the students in the rest of the state who will be joining Saranac Lakers in the school phone ban.

“I feel bad for them,” she said.

“Honestly, I would just listen, because it’s not worth the consequences,” Latham added. “Even though you have an opinion, you think it’s stupid, just try to listen because it’s just better in the end. … You won’t win unless you have some serious people backing you up.”

In middle school, Latham successfully petitioned the school board to allow hats in the dress code. It took a lot of work, she said.

Dann said students know if he believes something is best for them, he’s not going to waver. He wondered if maybe they’ll admit it was beneficial after they graduate.

“It’s with good intentions,” he said, not to make life miserable.

He said phones are useful tools, but also a distraction. He’s hoping to create practices that last after graduation and matter in college and in the workforce. The goal is to encourage in-person socialization, improve focus and for students to be present in the moment.

“Even for me, personally. I have to check myself, my cellphone usage,” Dann said.

If a student’s phone vibrates with a notification, there’s an impulse to attend to it. Dann sees a lot of anxiety about responding and reacting immediately.

“There’s a lot of maintenance that they’re putting on themselves to uphold all this,” he said of social media.

Before the ban, Dann said hallways during class transitions were quiet and most people’s heads were down.

“It seemed like there was no noise going on, and all of it was because of the cellphones,” he said.

After the policy took place, the change was immediate.

“This place was so loud. The senior lounge was loud, the hallways were loud,” Dann said. “It took some getting used to, because we were so used to it being quiet. Now that they couldn’t use their phones, they were actually communicating with each other and having conversations.”

For New York students who will be new to this policy, Schenk had some advice.

“Take advantage of that policy and experience life outside of a screen,” he said. “Experience and education is valuable, no matter how boring it seems.”

Dann had a recommendation for other schools joining the phone ban — don’t do half-measures.

“What’s interesting about high school is that any change that’s made, within three years, it just becomes an expectation,” he said.

Current SLHS Junior Paxton Leerkes said he doesn’t use his phone a lot, but he feels they should be able to have them for emergencies. He remembers when the ban started that “everyone was mad.” He said not having the phone helps with his focus, but he also wants it for its calculator. However, he understands the rule.

“Just have school before phones,” Leerkes said.

Around a dozen states have some sort of ban or restriction on cellphones in schools.

“We’ve protected our kids before from cigarettes, alcohol, and drunk driving, and now we’re protecting them from addictive technology designed to hijack their attention,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an announcement of the plan.

Schools will have some flexibility in how they implement the ban, and the law includes exemptions for students who might need phones for medical reasons, learning disabilities or if they don’t speak fluent English.

When SLHS students came back to school after Spring Break this week, Dann noticed there was a period of more discipline for phone usage as students adjusted to not being able to use them all the time.

“It’s an addiction,” he said.