(Radio Iowa) - When students return to Gehlen Catholic Middle and High School in Le Mars in a few weeks, they'll be facing a new "no cell phone" policy.
Principal Bryan Paulson says they've tried restricting cell phone use in the past, but it just wasn’t working. Under the new plan, students will have to put their phones in a central locker system -- what the kids refer to as jail -- and they'll be secured all day, not to be returned into the last five minutes or so of school. Paulson says cell phone use by students was having a negative impact on their behavior and attitudes toward learning -- and some weren't engaged in the classroom, while others were becoming anxious.
There will be exceptions to the policy for students who need their phones during the day to contact a parent or to go to a doctor's appointment.