Jadyn Murvine

A phone caddy full of replacements during the school day.

According to D303 policy, students at North are required to place their cell phones in a phone caddy during instructional periods. Sometimes, students try to get around these rules by putting an old or fake phone in the caddy, or only putting their phone case in the caddy. However, recently students have gotten more and more creative with these phone replacements, leaving teachers throughout the building bewildered.

On March 25, at 1:37 p.m., the first reported incident occurred: a banana was seen in a caddy pocket in place of a phone. At first, the teacher laughed it off, thinking it was a one-time joke, and even joking about it with her colleagues. 

“Students joke around sometimes. I didn’t think anyone would seriously try to convince us teachers that bananas were their phones. It seemed like a funny joke,” said Tia Churr, physics teacher.

Incident No. 1 was the least of North’s worries. A trend was quickly sparked, and caddies began to fill with unusual items.

“I looked in the caddy the next day and I was extremely confused about what I was seeing. There were at least eight bananas, an orange, a toddler play phone and even a rotary phone somehow jammed into a pocket,” said Churr.

Teachers throughout North reported seeing the same trends. Apples, oranges, bananas, play phones, rotary phones, even an entire Chromebook (which was especially puzzling in a computer science class). 

“I don’t know why the student thought they could get work done if their Chromebook was in the caddy,” said Petie Eff, computer science teacher. “I had to give them a zero for the day.”

Perhaps one of the strangest parts of the phenomenon, students refused to acknowledge that the items in the caddies were not their phones. When confronted, they insisted that they did put their phones away.

“He said I put a banana in the caddy? I, like, literally don’t even know what my teacher is talking about. Bro is not a chill guy. My phone was clearly in the caddy,” said Gus Lighter. 

Teachers and administrators are unsure of how to proceed, as no students will acknowledge what is going on.