It was the first day of school at Algoma Middle High School. Students were back in the halls and classrooms.But this year, they can't use their phones.For some students, the adjustment has come with mixed feelings."I was a litt le skeptical at first," Algoma high school senior Dakota Duerst said on his initial thoughts when announcements about the policy happened last school year. "Being a kid, I'm on it 24/7. But there's also a point where I could feel it drawing away from my attention.""I would use my phone to listen to music," fellow senior Dylan Seiler said. "I think that's the only hard thing for me, but there's other ways to go about that. So, I should be okay."WATCH MIHIR SINHASAN'S FULL STORY: Algoma School District students, staff react to new phone policyAccording to the new state law2025 Wisconsin Act 42 signed by Gov. Tony Evers, public school districts are required to have students store their phones during instructional time.Under Algoma's new Personal Communication Device Policy, superintendent Jesse Brinkmann says phones are prohibited from 7:50 a.m. to 3 p.m. (the entire school day), including passing time and lunch."When I stepped into the hallway for passing time, I saw them heads up, walking forward and interacting with their peers," he said when asked how he felt about the change. "It's something I don't recall seeing much of over the past couple years."That is something Algoma Middle High School teacher Maree Baumann thinks will make the school a better place."I think we're going to become more of a community that knows each other, because we're forced to be eye-to-eye now," Baumann said.NBC 26 will stay with this story as the phone policy starts its first year in the district. ...read more read less