Dear school administration, you may know students aren’t happy about the new no phone policy. I know you have your reasons, but the students have only heard of these ones; to protect mental health, strengthen social skills and relationships, and help students focus. Here are some of my and my fellow classmates' reasons that we should be allowed to keep our phones. We as a student body have enacted our right to the first amendment. We have the right to petition and freedom of speech and we are exercising these by having students sign these papers and parents fill out these online petitions.
The first reason is that our cellphones are our property and shouldn't be taken away from us. The second reason is that if there is a family emergency. The correct protocol is for your parents to call the office, which is wasting time. The parents usually have to explain to the front office why you need to pull them out of class. Which is getting more people involved in your family's issues. Most people don’t want others to know about their problems.
The third reason is for fellow female students. How many times have you texted a friend or a friend texted because they need you to bring them a feminine product? A lot! The only feminine products that are in the bathroom are cardboard tampons or bulky and uncomfortable pads. These products are also often unfilled. So what do most of your female students do? Text a friend. The other thing you can do is go back to class and get a feminine product and hope the teacher says you can go back out, which is wasting more time from learning in the classroom.
The fourth reason is that if a friend is upset or something is wrong they can't contact someone who they trust. Most students don't like talking to adults about their problems because the students think the adults will not get it. The fifth reason is more than half of the students are in a sport or have work or other after school activities that change constantly. Students need to know these things to be prepared. If we are old enough to drive, work, manage our schedules and advocate for ourselves we are old enough to know when and where to use our phone properly. If we don't use the phones properly, then you can hold it until we learn how to earn it back for that class. We are young adults and we need to learn how to do things by ourselves. 
The sixth reason is students and teachers are now so-called phone zombies in the hallway or when they can use it. No one is talking in the hallways as much as they used to. Everyone is trying to check everything on their phones. They are now being late to classes and causing others to be late as well. 
The seventh and most important reason is overall safety with the increase of active shooter and sexual assaults in schools. Active shooters in the United States have skyrocketed since 1999. In the article Gunfire on School Grounds in the United States “An estimated 3 million children in the US are exposed to shooting per year,this affects K-12. '' Is the approach that if there is a school shooting they want us to leave our phones? For safety this could be the difference between life or death or if we are lucky our only way to contact for help. In the article Will school shootings in 2023 outpace last year’s record high?, “There have been more shootings with more victims in the first three months of 2023 than the same period last year.”. So far every year they have been increasing which is very scary and sad. In March 2022, we had a sexual assault at one of the Loudoun County Public Schools The school was Stone Bridge High School. In the article called Loudoun parents say daughter sexually assaulted by teacher, the Title IX office made mistakes.The text said, “ I was sitting at the kitchen island, and I received a text from my daughter and she said,’ mom, you're going to get a call from the vice principal, don't worry.’ And I said ‘what's going on? You're scaring me.’ And she wrote, ‘I had it the easiest, the other girls not so much,”’Mrs. Harding said.” This text was very important to the parents of this girl. All parents should be able to know how their child is. It allows the parents to have peace of mind that their child can call them. For example, like these high school girls did with her parents, to let them know what just happened. Does the school want us to wait for in between class break to text your parents on what just happened to you? Which is risking sexual assault from almost happening to you and happening to you. That is scary and will stick with you for life.

Cites used
https://everytownresearch.org/maps/gunfire-on-school-grounds/
https://www.k12dive.com/news/will-school-shootings-in-2023-outpace-last-years-record-high/646765/
https://wjla.com/news/crisis-in-the-classrooms/loudoun-county-public-school-lcps-parents-say-daughter-sexually-assaulted-teacher-title-ix-office-stone-bridge-high-school-virginia-investigation-harris-mahedavi-school-board-scott-ziegler-glenn-youngkin-jason-miyares