Recently, Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 1481  under pressure from school districts concerning use of personal devices in the classroom. According to the bill, a "personal wireless communication device" is anything that can connect to the internet and send/receive information, including cell phones, laptops, watches, and more. The bill prohibits the possession and use of these devices during instructional time. They also require classrooms to provide a "secure, out-of-site area" for the devices to remain during class. 

In the past years, phone restrictions have been in place at Alamo Heights High School to keep students focused during important lessons, but still allowing us to communicate on our own time, as high school students should. We were required to place our phones in caddies during class, and could retrieve them once class was over for use during passing periods and lunch. It seems like this already fits the legislation, right? It does. 

Regardless, the school board decided to enact new rules with extreme punishments on the use of personal devices during the 2025-2026 school year. Communications from the principal, Cory Smith, detail these new rules and punishments:
"Due to a new state law (Texas House Bill 1481), all personal communication devices must be powered off and out of sight during the entire school day—from the first bell to the last bell. This includes passing periods, lunch, and restrooms, not just during class." 

Already this feels unfair and unreasonable, considering what we had worked well and fit the legislation. Why should students be prohibited from communicating when not even partaking in instructional time? We have hour-long lunches where students can leave campus, but we can't listen to music or watch a video or text our friends to meet up when we are on campus . Unfortunately, the situation is even worse than this. Punishments for breaking this new rule are extreme, even for a first violation:

"Consequences for Violations:

First Violation

Phone confiscated
You can pick it up after school
Parent contacted
2-hour Saturday detention

Second Violation

Phone confiscated for 24 hours
Parent must pick up (between 8:15–8:45 AM or 3:30–4:30 PM)
4-hour Saturday detention

Third Violation

Phone confiscated for 48 hours
Parent must pick up
1 day of In-School Suspension (ISS)

Fourth and Subsequent Offenses

Extended hold times and parent pickup required
ISS and/or OSS may be assigned depending on prior occurrences
Repeated violations may result in DAEP placement for persistent misbehavior

Refusing to give your phone to a staff member = insubordination, which could result in ISS or OSS (out-of-school suspension).
More than ONE cell phone violation = loss of exam exemptions for the semester."

Yes, you can get 2 hours of Saturday detention from using your phone once during the school day. A straight-A model student could be texting their mother during lunch and have to show up to Saturday detention with a scar on their record. I understand this could be to prevent any student from even trying to sneak a device in, but unfortunately, it won't do anything except harm the already well-behaved students. Teenagers are rebellious and sneaky, and will try everything in their power to break this rule without getting caught. Why create this rule to fight against when what we had worked and was incorporated well into our school environment? 

Alamo Heights is meant to be a place where people can learn and grow and communicate with one another. These rules aim to create a "focused" learning environment with few distractions. We already had that, and if there was a class where students were distracted it was not by choice of the school but rather by choice of the teacher. It should stay this way. 

Another large issue with these rules is the fact that the equipment provided by the school is not nearly well-equipped enough for certain courses and activities. The chromebooks in every classroom are extremely slow, and while they work, they are difficult to use and can prevent students from finishing work in time. It is often faster and easier to use a personal laptop, and more work that they do can be taken home. And in classes like Rocketry and Video Game Design, the windows laptops provided are locked down so tightly they are impossible to use. You can't edit files, move files, download software, or anything else you need to complete assignments in those classes. Consequently, students bring their own laptops to complete their work and bring it home with them for more learning opportunities. 

Controlling students and preventing communication is what House Bill 1481 is doing, whether that was its goal or not. Technology is so ingrained into student's lives that it is impossible to simply remove it from the learning environment. Instead, it should be embraced. Teach students online safety, teach them how to connect with their peers and work together. Don't remove tools because the people in control don't understand them; instead learn how to use them to expand the amount of opportunities available.