TOWAMENCIN- With the beginning of this school year many returning students were greeted by some typical changes at North Penn High School, but also some bigger ones such as  a slightly new policy on personal electronics.

Unlike the past few years at North Penn over the head headphones are no longer prohibited to be used and students may only have one earbud in at a time. This new rule was put in place for safety purposes so that students would be more aware in case of an emergency situation.

“I hope students understand that this is from a safety perspective. It would be difficult to communicate to students in an emergency situation when they have noise cancelling headphones,” explained NPHS Principal Pete Nicholson.

While the change might take some adjusting to for various students, most of the students at North Penn have been able to adjust to the new rule. The ultimate goal of the change is to have a safer environment here at the High School in case of any emergency situations.

Other schools do not have a policy as loose as North Penn’s; North Penn students are fortunate enough to be able to use their cell phones during school. Woodbury High School has a policy most similar to North Penns’, the school allows students to use cell phones at a teachers’ discretion, while in the halls, and at lunch. Anderson High School also has a policy akin to North Penns but with more severe repercussions for breaking the rul;, the student has to pay a $15.00 fine per infraction after the third violation.

Most of the Senior and Junior classes have handled the new rule rather well taking out one of their earbuds when asked. Hopefully the students will continue to adjust to the new rule.