Hello, my name is Scott Vollmer, and I’m a senior here at St. Luke’s. If you don’t know who I am, just look up. I’m probably there.

Anyways, I’m the catalyst behind the petition opposing the new rule against our cellphones. After weeks of hearing my peers and teachers complain about the banning of cell phones (aside from limited access at our lockers), I decided that it was time to take action.

According to the St. Luke’s Student Handbook, “Anyone who feels that she or he has the grounds to do so may question a rule. However, before challenging a rule, one should take time to consider it in terms of the whole school.”

As the handbook says, I took my time to truly analyze the situation, and the event that put me over the edge was the constant mob of students at their lockers in the senior hallway. Some teachers have claimed that students used to walk into them in the halls as they were mesmerized by their smartphones; however, now that they’re stored in our lockers, the hallways are far more hazardous.

Between running middle schoolers, teachers attempting to walk, and Upper Schoolers at their lockers (on their phones), the hallways are now even more “dangerous” than they were before this rule was in effect. Essentially, I took to Change.com for the safety of the middle schoolers (specifically the smaller ones).

After I launched the petition on Friday, September 28, at around 9 PM, it garnered an abundance of signatures from students of all grades, concerned parents, and teachers. Several key Facebook sharings of a link to the petition played a major role as well.

As of Monday, October 1, the petition contained 146 signatures. Considering the fact that there are only 327 students in the Upper School, the fact that around 44% percent of the student body showed this much support in less than three days proves the extent of disagreement towards this new cell phone rule.

It’s uncertain whether or not a change will be made in the near future, but if the signatures continue to come in (see me if you’re interested in signing the petition), I promise you I will take the desire of the student body to people with the authority to make a change.