You’re sitting in your favorite class when something the teacher says catches you off guard. Surely, there has to be some mistake, right? There’s no way that he meant that the Civil War was fought in 1776. You reach for your smartphone to double check the date when all of a sudden it’s swiped from your hands. Your teacher has caught you red handed and immediately your phone will be sent to the front office for your parents to pick up in its little zip-lock baggie.

With AHS’s new policy about the use of technology in the classroom, however, using a social gadget during school may no longer be prohibited.

The new policy implies a change in the rules with how technology is viewed in school. No longer will students be reprimanded for using their phones, iPads, and computers at lunch, in the hallways, and also– at their teacher’s discretion– in classroom activities. However, students will only be allowed to use these technological gadgets for educational purposes and will have to register them with administration before they can be used throughout the school day. Students also may use a phone in the hallways, but will not be allowed to talk on the phone at any point throughout the day.

“I think this will help students with keeping track of their technological devices, since administration will be aware of what is registered in case one gets lost or stolen,” administrator Jamie Carayiannis said.

Senior Elizabeth Waugh was keen on using her portable laptop to write down class notes instead of having to copy them down by hand her junior year with her teacher’s permission. With the new policy, the way she has used these devices will be further augmented.

“I find it much easier to learn with my laptop and I don’t feel like I am wasting paper by copying down note after note by hand,” Waugh said.

Though many students find this new policy as a relief for tired hands and punishment for using phones and technology during school, many teachers are still on the fence about implicating the policy in their classrooms.

“I could see [using technology in school] helping or hurting [the learning process],” history teacher Joe Valentino said.

Valentino would go on to explain that the faculty is not completely sure about what exactly is going on with the new policy, such as how students are going to be able to register their devices and where.

“We’re still coming to grips and trying to understand what’s all happening,” Valentino said. “It’s a work in progress at this point. Hopefully we can iron things out really quickly.”

The decision to allow technology during the school day was discussed by administration over different periods throughout the summer. Many of the decision’s factors were taken from other schools policies that already allow technology in school and most agreed that it was time for AHS to catch up.

“We had to catch up with the culture of our students,” Carayiannis said. “Technology is the direction that this generation is headed.”