On any given day at Haven, most students find themselves eating lunch in a noisy cafeteria. But on Friday October 24, hundreds of students instead filed into an unusually loud library as science teacher Mr. William Rothenbach and math teacher Ms. Beth Benzing took on three separate pairs of student adversaries.

At first, during A lunch, the event drew a comparatively small student audience. But as the two hours of debate drew on, exponentially more students filed into the library to hear the sweeping rhetoric of the teachers and their student counterparts, eventually totalling over 250 students overall.

“I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people showed up,” Rothenbach said.

The debate comes in the wake of the implementation of the district’s new electronic device policy established last spring. The policy, while not a total ban, prohibits use of cell phones during instructional time. 

According to Rothenbach, the debate originated from a group of teachers that was looking to establish a better student relationship with technology. The format of a debate was intended to bring structure to the discussion and allow for students to advocate for solutions.

“I think the adults in this building, I think the faculty members, I think the board, would love to hear workable solutions,” Rothenbach said.

The debate was then promoted through various channels leading up to the event, with principal Mr. Andrew Benzing hyping up the clash between “Ruthless Rothenbach” and the students. 

Rothenbach employed his own trash talk, emailing each competitor telling them to “go for the jugular.” Rothenbach later claimed the email was intended only for his debate partner, Mrs. Beth Benzing.

The debate began in each lunch with a brief introduction by Mrs. Beth Benzing and a layout of the rules by photography teacher Ms. Kate Plows as well as history teacher and speech and debate coach Mr. Jeffrey Kahn.

Both sides were allotted two minutes each for opening statements and rebuttals as well as one minute each for questions and a closing argument.

Most of the student debaters were asked by involved teachers to participate in the debate.

“Mr. Rothenbach actually asked me if I wanted to be a part of it and it seemed really interesting,” senior Lila Martell said.

Martell was joined by junior Henry Hewitt for the last debate of the day, drawing over 130 students.

Earlier debates featured senior Lexi Benzing and Magnolia Brown arguing the student position during A lunch and seniors Dheer Parikh and Savvas Zeibekis during B lunch.

Rothenbach was impressed by the student debaters, thinking his preparation was outclassed.

“I thought the student presenters were very well prepared,” Rothenbach said. “To use a current euphemism, I think I got cooked.”

Hewitt believes the debate went well, seeing teacher perspectives as more valuable than outsider input.

“I think that I was able to express my ideas clearly, and I was able to hear the perspective of the adult teachers, which I think is a lot more of a nuanced and educated perspective than that of some of the parents,” Hewitt said.

When parents from the advocacy group Haven Hold the Phone pushed for a total phone ban at school board meetings last year, Hewitt was one of the students who spoke before the school board, citing a petition against the ban he circulated.

“I made it my mission to talk to every lunch table of students at B lunch about how they felt about [the proposed ban] and I found myself sympathizing and realizing how important the perspective of the students [is],” Hewitt said.

Lexi Benzing stressed the importance of student voice in administrative decisions.

“I think [the debate] was really beneficial for both sides, for the teachers to learn what we were thinking as well,” Lexi Benzing said.

Other students also referred to the importance of fruitful discourse, seeing the debate as a step in the right direction.

“I’m very glad to be able to have this opportunity and be able to engage in such an important discussion, because I think the peaceful and productive discourse of ideas is exactly what we need in America right now,” Hewitt said.