Watertown High School plans to disable students’ cellphones during class using software that the school will be piloting during the 2025-26 school year. At Monday’s meeting the School Committee heard from parents who called one of the books on the recommended summer reading list “anti-Semitic.” The Committee also got more information on the changes to the Sexual and Sex-based Discrimination policy.
Cellphone Pilot
WHS Principal Joel Giacobozzi told the School Committee on Aug. 18 that cellphone use during class has been a problem, and the Doorman app is an alternative to having students store their phones in lockers in the main office.
“I see phones on the table now, and we’re all able to respond to our phone, but as an adolescent right now, the students just are not able to do that,” Giacobozzi said.
He noted that the State Legislature is considering legislation for cellphone-free schools, which would require districts to adopt a policy by the fall of 2026. The Watertown School Committee is currently working on updating the district’s personal electronic device policy, but has not approved it.
Currently, the policy does not allow students at the high school to have access to their phones during class, Giacobozzi said, except under rare circumstances. Last year, phones were stored in the classroom during the period.
“It’s basically the shoe tree that we all put our shoes in there on the back of every door students are supposed to put their phone in,” Giacobozzi said. “There is a mixed bag of results in terms of adherence to this policy.”
The app run by Doorman would allow students to keep possession of their phones during class, but they would not be able to use them.
“A kid walks into a classroom, they tap their phone and then all of a sudden it says that they are attending to their class,” Giacobozzi said. “It takes their students attendance and also bricks the phone. That’s slang for basically makes it useless.”
Those students who do not want to use that app have the option of locking their phone in the main office for the school day. In those cases, teachers can mark the students’ attendance manually using the app, Giacobozzi said.
School administration has the ability to unlock all phones if necessary, he said, and it would automatically activate all phones at the end of the school day.
Giacobozzi added that he thinks it is important for students to be able to use their phones while off campus. This could be while they are walking between the temporary high school at Moxley Field and the Boys & Girls Club for physical education, or for seniors who have the option of going off campus for lunch.
If a student tries to use an app such as Snapchat or Instagram, or use a web browser, it would “spin” and not be able to connect, Giacobozzi said. The app is programmed to know the school’s schedule.
“When class is over, it livens the phone back up,” Giacobozzi said. “The texts go out. You receive your texts if you were to make a phone call, the phone call is the only thing on the phone that goes out or in that works.”
Giacobozzi said he does not see phone calls as a problem because teens rarely make phone calls.
The app also keeps track of apps that students are trying to use. Giacobozzi said, but it does not log the info by name. That information can be used to track trends, which the counseling staff can use to add to advisory curriculum, he added.
“I want to just reiterate one point: the company, Doorman, has been very clear that they are not interested in our data,” Giacobozzi said. “They don’t collect any data, and last week, they were approved at the very highest level of Apple’s vetting process to make sure that no data was collected.”
Watertown High School would be one of the first schools to use the Doorman app.
“We’re the first public school to pilot Doorman,” Giacobozzi said, noting that a private school has already started piloting the app. He plans to speak with the principal from that school to “discuss the thrills and spills of a pilot.”
The school will evaluate how well the pilot is working in December, Giacobozzi said.
School Committee member Amy Donohue said she likes the idea.
“I think it’s great. I think it’s great that we’re trying this. I think we’re always one ahead of the game,” Donohue said. “And tonight we’ve said consistency is key. I think with these cell phones it’s the consistency of not having it in any classes, because the teachers don’t seem to be consistent with taking them away.”
School Committee member Jessica Middlebrook asked about the cost of the program. Giacobozzi said for the first year the Doorman program is free for the school to use, and if it continues after that the rate will be $5 per student.
Summer Reading List
Two residents spoke during the public forum about the book “A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child’s Search for Home,” which was on the recommended reading list that was jointly put out by the Watertown Free Public Library and the Watertown Public Schools.
The speakers said they had reached out to Superintendent Dede Galdston and members of the School Committee to discuss why the book was on the reading list, but did not receive a response.
Residents also expressed their concerns at the July 31 Board of Library Trustees meeting. The Watertown Library Trustees presented a statement about the book and the reading list during its July 31 meeting.
During Monday’s School Committee meeting, School Committee member Rachel Kay asked for the district to review how summer reading lists are developed.
“While I know this list is done in conjunction with the library, I want to be sure that our involvement is sufficient so we can be confident that all books align with our curriculum and our district values,” Kay said. “If we are not able to do this thoroughly, I propose we remove Watertown Public Schools from the title of list and allow the library to manage it independently without our name attached. We have a responsibility to ensure the selections are appropriate for all students, especially the most vulnerable.”
The discussion was referred to the School Committee’s Curriculum Subcommittee.
Sexual and Sex-based Discrimination Policy
At the July 28 meeting, the School Committee heard the first reading of the Sexual and Sex-Based Harassment and Retaliation Policy.
Galdston explained that the changes are being made to reflect changes in the federal Title IX law.
“In 2024 the new administration had changed, had made many changes to the Title IX policy, so we then adopted a new Title IX policy to reflect the 2024 regulations,” she said. “Lo and behold, in the very beginning of 2025 the 2024 changes were vacated by the courts, and the reason for being vacated primarily is that there was an overlying on Title VII. And the court said, you can only stick to the Title that you’re dealing with, which is sex-based harassment. And so there’s a revision of everything that happened in 2024 back to 2020.”
Galdston added that the Watertown Public Schools’ policy book also includes other policies addressing discrimination.
“In our anti discrimination policy, we actually are very clear about the fact that the Watertown Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of all of the protected classes,” she said. “And we consider any kind of harassment based on the protected classes to be obviously very serious, and we then go through the investigatory process to see if something was harassment, something was bullying, or on very rare occasion, is it Title IX.”
She added that harassment based on gender identity falls under Title VI.
“I believe that we are covered to make sure that all of our students are protected,” she said.
School Committee members thanked Galdston for the information about why the changes are being made. The School Committee unanimously approved the revisions to the policy.