Senior Sean Kuriger presented his concerns over the district cell phone policy to the school board on Monday, September 14.

        Students have been outraged since tighter enforcement of the district policy eliminated the use of cellphones during the schooldays. Aggravated, Kuriger began a petition in protest of the policy that gathered over a thousand signatures to present to the District Board. Dozens of students gathered at the meeting to voice their support of Kuriger’s protest.

        “Our district’s motto is ‘preparing students for the future’ and technology is the future, but if over ten thousand students can’t have access to technology, we aren’t being prepared for the future at all,” said Kuriger to the Board.

        Kuriger’s presentation focused on the numerous potential benefits that he believed cellphones could offer students. He contested that phones could offer students advantages in communication, note taking purposes, as well as for emergency purposes. He also stated that students from Naperville and Oswego school districts, who have better testing score averages than North, are allowed to use their phones during their lunch, study hall, and passing periods.

        “Students should have the freedom to use their cell phones during responsible academic times by teacher discretion, “said Kuriger, “In the past, teachers used cell phones through their discretion for academic purposes. Many students around our district depend on technology because that is what society is leaning towards.”

        Due to some misleading posts on social media, many students incorrectly believed that the policy had been changed immediately after the meeting. Rather, the board will take Kuriger’s words into consideration over the coming weeks. They will speak to administration at each of the high schools in the district before coming to a final verdict.

        “Everybody thought it was completely confirmed and that’s what they made it seem like,” said Junior AJ Peal, “And after we found out we were all really disappointed.

        Even after the meeting, students remain unsure of whether Kuriger’s efforts will result in a tangible difference.

        “Personally I don’t think it’s going to happen,” said Freshman Riley Wernimont regarding a possible change in the cell phone policy, “They’ve already been taken away once and they can just take it away again.”

        The actual district policy regarding cell phones hasn’t been changed this year. The district has always maintained a no tolerance policy towards phones. This year, however, the school has been much stricter towards enforcing the rules.

“Our decision in the past to allow teachers the discretion of allowing students to listen to music was technically outside the parameters of the cellphone policy,” said Principal Raymond Epperson, “It was clarified at the beginning of this year that the procedure states no use during the school day, which would include listening to music.”

                   In addition to the students from North, students from Plainfield Central and East attended the meeting as well. Seniors Lauren Bullock of Central and Tommy Haddock of South presented on their behalf in hopes of restoring full hour lunches to their schools, which they have had in years past.

“Even though we are fighting for diffrent things, we all support each other’s individual fights to make a change,” said Haddock.

        Just like at Kuriger, student’s at all four high schools began petitions in hopes of changing policy at their school. Both Central and South’s petitions have gathered over 400 signatures thus far.

        “Honestly I think it’s really neat to see us all from the different schools come together,” said Kuriger, “Even though we’re fighting for different things I think it’s really neat to see us all stand together.”