School uses app to fight addictive apps

Students keep phones but are no longer glued to them, officials say

- By Iris Kwok

MYUNG J. CHUN Los Angeles Times SINCE Harvard-Westlake bought the app, "the whole feeling on campus" has changed, a teacher says.

English teacher Jocelyn Medawar has noticed a new vibe at Harvard-Westlake School this school year: Upper school students are chatting in the halls and greet her as they enter class.

They no longer have their "faces glued to a screen," said Medawar, who has taught at the elite private school for 35 years. "The whole feeling on campus has generally changed."

At a time when school cellphone bans or limits are the law in California public schools and in at least 34 other states — a growing national movement to get distracted students off their devices and focused on learning — Harvard-Westlake has found a way to enforce their restrictions by turning to — what else? — a mobile app that partially locks down phones and flags the front office when students attempt to break the rules.

Students in grades 10 through 12 must install a custom-programmed app called “Opal” that blocks a list of social media and gaming apps that Harvard-Westlake educators have identified for now as scofflaws during school hours: TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, X, Discord, Threads, Pokemon Go, Roblox, Clash Royale and Reddit.

Students at the Studio City campus are allowed to keep their cellphones with them and can use them to contact parents or hail a ride only in an administrator’s office.

But if a student disables Opal to use a banned app, school officials are notified on an office dashboard. The app represents one strategy designed to shore up the loopholes that have emerged in other popular enforcement tools, including lockable magnetic phone pouches that can be broken into or outright bans that sneaky students skirt.