Hi WHS Families, 

I hope you're enjoying your summer and loving this beautiful weather. This will be a shorter communication about some important updates for the new school year. A fuller communication will follow towards the end of this week. Please make sure to read to the end, as there is a big shift in our cell phone procedures that is very important. 

Start Times for First Day of School:
The first day of school is September 2nd. Students will report to school based on their grade level:

• 9th Grade - report to the WMS auditorium at 8:30am for 9th Grade Orientation
• 10th Grade - report to the WMS auditorium at 10:30am
• 11th Grade - report to the WMS auditorium at 10:30am (yes, same as 10th grade)
• 12th Grade - report to your first period class at 11:30am

Busses:
We will not run multiple bus pickups on the first day. Students will only have the option of the regular morning pickup time. If you take the bus and are in grades 10-12, you can come early and hang in the cafeteria.

Schedules: 
Schedules will be released this Thursday, August 21st. We will send another communication shortly after, reminding you and giving a more detailed look at the first week of school.

Updated Cell Phone Policy:

As many of you may know, the Massachusetts legislature is poised to implement a school cellphone ban statewide. Recently, the State Senate passed the bill almost unanimously. The bill now makes its way to the House of Representatives. If passed, the bill will travel to Governor Healey, who has stated that she will support the effort. In addition, the Watertown School Committee has launched a cell phone task force aimed at determining the best path forward to meet the needs of our students, families, and the community at large. 

As amazing as our students are (and they really are!) Watertown High School is not unaffected by the issues that come with cell phone use during school, such as distraction from learning, the feeling of needing to be constantly connected, and some of our students choosing to arrange meetups with friends during the school day, missing critical time on learning. Many schools are implementing cell phone bans using pouches or boxes to lock a student’s phone away during the school day. These pouches and boxes prevent students from interacting with their phones at all during the day. For myriad reasons, I don’t feel this is the best path forward at this time. In response to the challenges we’ve faced with cell phone policy compliance, and in anticipation of upcoming state regulations, Watertown High School will introduce a new approach to its cell phone policy for the 2025–2026 school year.

What is the plan for WHS? 

For the 2025-2026 school year, WHS will be piloting the use of a technological solution to the proposed phone ban. All students will download Doorman, an app that will allow students to keep their phone but restrict the applications on the phone while a student is in class. The app, which must be downloaded onto a student’s phone, allows the student to “tap in” to their class while entering the classroom. This tap will take the student’s attendance and will disable most of the phone’s features, but WILL allow them to make emergency calls and use approved sites or apps, with teacher approval. We have worked closely with the developers of the application to make sure this pilot is as successful as possible. 

What does the app do?

The application uses VPN technology to redirect a student’s web traffic through a restricted, encrypted server, preventing students from accessing distracting apps while in class. The app is ONLY used during class time, and the phone is automatically “unlocked” once a class is over. The student must “tap in” to class in order to turn on the restrictions. The app never automatically engages; for example, if a student is home sick or not in class, the app is not running, and the phone is not locked. 

Teachers and administrators will have a dashboard on their computer where they can see a student's attendance, as taken by the app. The dashboard will also monitor any attempts at circumventing the cell phone policy. 

What DOESN’T the app do? 

The app does not “break” a student’s phone or permanently change it in any way. The app cannot be remotely turned on and is only activated when a student physically touches their phone to a door tag in the classroom (or enters their classroom code while in the class) they are walking into. 

Other than the necessary data to take attendance and share, anonymously, an attempt to access a restricted app, the Doorman app does not track any data, of any kind, from the student’s phone. 

What if a student decides not to use the app?

If a student chooses not to use the app on their phone but decides to bring their phone to school, our new policy will require the student to lock their phone in the main office for the entire school day. This will be mandatory. We believe that our students are responsible enough to keep their phones with them and use the app to restrict their phones during class, and we hope that we can prove this ability and keep this solution moving forward. 

What if a student chooses not to bring their phone to school?

Great choice! If a student reports that they don’t have their phone at school, we will first call home to confirm that choice, and will also ask their parent/guardian to attest to this choice in writing. Cell phone policies only work if they are applied consistently, and when students or families try to get around the policy, it weakens our ability to maintain phone-free learning time. 

We truly believe that our students can be responsible with their devices. We know that this year, with an open campus for many students, students’ cell phone needs are unique. The Doorman app allows us this freedom while keeping our classrooms as distraction-free as possible. We will be assessing all of our available options, including this technological solution and other alternatives for the 26/27 school year. We ask for your support and partnership as we pilot this new, exciting technology. 

Please review Doorman’s privacy policy here and their FAQ here. 

See you soon!
Joel Giacobozzi
Principal