by Mr. Patterson’s New “Phones Away” Policy Produces Its First Enforcement Crisis Before the Policy Is Fully Explained
Reported by Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.
WICHITA FALLS, TX — Memorial High School band director Mr. David Patterson announced a new “Phones Away During Rehearsal” policy at the beginning of Tuesday’s marching band practice, a policy whose first thirty seconds of existence produced forty-seven students photographing and videoing the announcement of the policy for social media documentation purposes, which is either the funniest thing to happen in the band hall since the 2022 tuba incident or a precise illustration of why the policy was necessary, depending on whether you are Mr. Patterson or a student.
Mr. Patterson, who has directed the Memorial Mavericks marching band for fourteen years and who has developed the specific combination of patience and theatrical exasperation that successful band directors cultivate through approximately four hundred and fifty hours of annual contact with teenagers and their relationship with tempo, stopped his announcement approximately forty-five seconds in, waited for the phones to lower, and said: “What you are doing right now is why I am doing this.” This was accurate. Several students filmed his observation that they were filming. The Mavericks band Instagram account had six new posts by 4:15pm.
The Policy Details
The “Phones Away” policy requires students to place their phones in the designated phone caddy — a canvas hanging organiser with 36 numbered pockets that Mr. Patterson ordered from Amazon with his own money, a detail that several students noted is “actually kind of sad” and “we should Venmo him” and that produced a brief moment of genuine student-teacher solidarity before someone checked their phone to find Mr. Patterson’s Venmo handle and the moment passed.
Phones in the caddy during rehearsal. Phones returned at the end of rehearsal. Exceptions for genuine emergencies, which Mr. Patterson defines as “a family member is actively in the hospital right now” and students define somewhat more broadly. The first enforcement test came eleven minutes into the policy’s first rehearsal when sophomore clarinet player Maya Reyes’s phone rang with a ringtone that was, all present agreed, a very good ringtone but was nonetheless a phone ringing during a “Phones Away” rehearsal. Maya had forgotten to put the phone in the caddy. The phone had not forgotten to ring. Mr. Patterson handled this with the equanimity of a man who knew the first enforcement crisis was coming and had decided in advance how he would respond, which is: calmly, with a reminder, without drama, and without confiscating the phone because confiscating phones creates a paperwork situation that takes longer than the rehearsal.
Does It Work
The research on phone-free rehearsal and classroom environments is consistent: focused practice improves when phones are absent, because the phone is not merely a distraction when it is in use but when it is present, because students anticipate notifications and the anticipation creates a divided attention that the phone-free environment removes. Mr. Patterson has read the research. He has also been watching the band’s performance scores trend in a direction he finds motivating to reverse. The two facts are connected in his policy document, which he distributed to the band via email, which students received on their phones, which they read during the rehearsal immediately preceding the rehearsal at which the policy was announced.
Wichita Falls ISD’s broader phone policy is under district-level review. The caddy has 36 pockets. There are 47 students in the band. Mr. Patterson is aware of the arithmetic. He has ordered a second caddy. It has not yet arrived. The first rehearsal under the policy was, by his account, “better than I expected and worse than I hoped,” which is the standard assessment of any policy’s first day and which suggests the policy is working in the way that policies work: imperfectly, progressively, and with more Instagram documentation than anticipated.
The Mavericks march in October. The phones will or will not be in the caddy. The band will or will not be better for it. Go Mavericks.
For institutional phone policies and their immediate documentation, see The Daily Mash.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
