Summit High cracks down on smartphones

Bend’s Summit High School is taking an existing district policy about personal electronics one step further.

A parent forwarded NewsChannel 21 a letter from Summit High School to the families of students; in it, a new digital device policy is detailed.

The policy was created by the school’s leadership team. It says starting Feb. 7, Summit High students will have to follow a three-level policy.

— Level 1: Device is confiscated and turned into the attendance office and returned to the student at
the end of the day.
— Level 2: Device is confiscated and returned at the end of the day after an administrator contacts a
parent or guardian.
— Level 3: Device is confiscated and will only be returned directly to a parent or guardian.

Summit student Colton Richardson said he’s not too worried about the new policy.

“I think it’ll be fine. I mean, it’s kind of going to suck, because we won’t be able to have our phones in class. We just won’t get our phones till the end of the day,” Richardson said.

Under the Bend-La Pine Schools’ current policy, students are warned they could face those same consequences if they engage in distracting or harmful behavior with digital devices.

However, Summit is the only school we’re aware of in the area that has sent out letters to parents letting them know of their new, more specific policy.

For more information about teenagers and personal electronics, you can head to this website: https://www.bend.k12.or.us/summit/news-events/shs-parents