F.Y.I: PLEASE DO NOT SIGN IF YOU ARE NOT A STUDENT ATTENDING RIVERSIDE UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL ! ALSO, PLEASE DO NOT SIGN IF YOU ARE NOT A PARENT WITH A STUDENT THAT ATTEND RIVERSIDE!

A couple of weeks before school started, RUHS students/parents were notified that all cell phones would be collected upon entering the building. When the first week of school arrive, phones were indeed collected and it was a debacle. The lines were extremely long and moved very slowly. In fact, by the time I got to my first hour, it was almost over and this was for the whole first week. 

This is a problem because if this does become a recurring issue, this means that countless of other students including myself will be missing out on class time. This means we could be possibly missing out on lectures, demonstrations on how to do assignments, and ETC. My situation is a bit more dire since I am a senior and my first hour is English. English is a required elective. We need it to graduate. If I or any other students were to fail that class because of this, we would have to do credit recovery or possibly be in danger of not walking across the stage for something that isn't even in our control. Ironically enough, this also contradicts with the fact that taking away phones will improve grades. How can we improve grades if we can't get into class due to phone collection taking forever?!

Another thing I want to bring up is that the weather isn't always going to be sunny and beautiful. In fact, the weather could be rainy or cold. The big issue is going to be when it is cold. When it is cold, viral infections like the common cold and viruses like COVID could potentially spread faster. Considering the fact that social distancing will be impossible to enforce while standing in line combined with potential issues at scanning slowing down the line, the phone policy may make students vulnerable to viruses, but more specifically COVID.

The solution to all of this is to just give us a cell phone policy that is similar to all of the other high schools in the district and that is the phone is taken away when seen during the school day as opposed to collecting it the minute we arrive.  This will save the time of the staff members who are collecting phones and prevent there from being a long line in the front of the school that barely move. Although, cell phones are a issue, there is only a fraction of the student population that is making it one. There shouldn't be a policy that hurts everyone if there is only a small minority causing issues.

As students, we care about our own education as well and wish for everyone to do their best. But we also wish our voice can be heard, so we can achieve a compromise that reflect everybody including staff and parents. Whether you are a student or parent with a child goes to Riverside, please sign this! We need to make sure everyone succeeds and reforming the cell phone policy will do just that. Thank you!