The Commons App is a program that limits students’ access to social media and other apps. Campbell Hall is one of the first schools to adopt the Commons App, and the main reason for its addition was increasing requests from parents to have more restrictions on phones at school.

   The Commons activates when students are present on campus, detecting when they enter or leave a geofence around the campus perimeter. For this reason, the app requires all students to have their location turned on. High-school assistant principal, Dr. Rosa Dominguez, has been working with high school principal, Shakirat Taylor and deans on implementation of the Commons App.

   “I think it’s sophisticated with its invisible geofence, but it’s messy adjusting to different phones on campus,” Dominguez said. “[These are] things the app team did not realize until it was in a school setting.”

   Dominguez noticed several difficulties with the app’s functions such as parental controls preventing students from turning on location services and the app not turning off when school ends. Dominguez and administration are actively working on these issues, relaying feedback to the app developers who are working to make the program run smoothly.

   “I know we’re facing some hiccups,” Dominguez said. “There are steps with getting this fixed that we’re dealing with. Once everybody is on the right path, I think it’s going to be more streamlined and [allow students] to build self-management skills and break addictive habits.”