The academy announced that any device brought on campus will be destroyed, and students will be suspended.
HOUSTON — A Houston boys’ school is raising eyebrows with how it’s handling a cell phone ban.
Western Academy announced that any device brought on campus will be destroyed, and students will be suspended. Repeat offenders could be faced with expulsion.
“We will destroy the phone or digital device, and your son will be suspended. If it happens a second time, you will be asked to permanently withdraw your son from school,” Headmaster Jason Hebert said in a letter sent to parents. “They are children, you are adults. This is your responsibility.”
In the letter, the school’s headmaster said smartphones have harmed communication and maturity, and he wants to protect students from harmful content.
“There is zero reason your son would need even a dumb phone at Western Academy,” the letter read.
Hebert put the onus on parents to make sure their kids weren’t bringing the devices to school.
“Without question, you, parents, are the primary, most essential, and by far most influential guides in your son’s life,” Hebert said in the letter.
Hebert went on to say the kids weren’t old enough to responsibly use smartphones.
“Your son should not have a smartphone. He is too young. It doesn’t matter how mature he seems. He does not have enough self-mastery to use it without causing great harm to himself,” the letter read. “We all experience the negative effects of it daily. You know it is not good for him.”
Hebert said parents should know of the dangers of smartphones, and the policy allows students to continue to enjoy outdoor learning, sports, and hands-on projects on campus.
Before the new rule was put in place, Western employees would confiscate phones found on campus and only return them to a parent.
Read the full letter here.
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