Starting on the first day of school of the 2025-26 school year, a new policy is being put in place regarding Genesis. Beginning last year, Genesis is the interface in which students and parents can keep track of grades and schedules as well as handle attendance issues.

This year, the new district policy restricts students and parents alike from accessing the gradebook feature of the Genesis portal during school hours. From 7:45 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon, only teachers can look at and manage the grades of students. 

The new policy comes as a result of the ongoing debates as to the role of phones in school, and is implemented coinciding with the new phone-ban policy put into effect this year as well. For the past year the Somerset Hills School District has gathered research regarding cell phones in school, surveying not only students and staff across BHS but parents at home as well. 

The research led to the discovery that cell phone usage during school hours was often used to access genesis’ gradebook. This checking of grades led to communication between parents and students, leading to more time on phones than actively participating in class. As a result of the study’s findings, the new limitations to Genesis were put into effect at the start of the school year.

Principal Dr. Neigel said that the gradebook creates an “unhealthy focus on the grade rather than learning”. Oftentimes in classes, teachers reported that their students were more focused on their grade than actually learning the content in front of them.

The change led to quite a bit of controversy among students as the new policy caused quite a bit of change to their daily schedules and tendencies in school. 

Jack Martin, a junior at Bernards, says “In school I would prefer to not be stressed for a specific time of day. In a way,” he says “it almost makes the stress worse.”

Despite student pleas for the new policy to be reversed, the gradebook will stay closed during school hours for the 2025-26 school year.