The Focus Report Ari Engelberg | Opal For Schools
Sep 11, 2025
Ari Engelberg, Head of Communications & Strategic Initiatives at Harvard-Westlake School, discusses the pressing issue of phones in the classroom. He shares insights on the challenges of maintaining student focus amidst distractions from mobile devices. Engelberg reveals how Harvard-Westlake's balanced phone policy embraces nuance over outright bans, all while fostering educational use. He highlights the partnership with Opal, aimed at promoting self-regulation among students without sacrificing their freedom. Engaging anecdotes shed light on community responses and the innovative tools employed for monitoring.
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Phones Eroded Campus Community
- Phones have shifted from occasional educational tools to pervasive distractions that degrade community and focus on campus.
- Harvard-Westlake concluded that reducing phone use during school hours restores attention and peer interaction.
Brief Checks Cause Extended Distraction
- Short phone checks cause longer cognitive disruption than the seconds they take because students struggle to re-engage with class material.
- This amplifies learning losses beyond visible moments of distraction.
Hallways Filled With Head-Down Students
- Ari describes walking hallways and seeing a parade of students glued to phones between classes and at the quad.
- He contrasts that with earlier eras when students engaged directly with peers instead of screens.