Committee discusses bell-to-bell cell phone policy and student handbook language; draft to go to policy committee

Instructional Committee members discussed a proposed bell-to-bell student cell phone policy at the Aug. 13 meeting after a policy-committee update. A committee member said policy-committee members felt teachers are "the ones that are in the trenches" and recommended administrators take the lead on implementation while providing staff with a district-wide policy to enforce.

Participants said some teachers want a clear, district-level ban to simplify enforcement instead of leaving each classroom to set its own rules. The group noted a handful of schools have already implemented similar rules and the policy committee sought sample language and implementation bumps from schools that have done it. One presenter said draft student-handbook language had been crafted by Terry Wolf with input from Tim and Jay and that the committee had prepared tiered consequences (consequent 1, consequent 2, consequent 3) for handbook inclusion; she said the draft policy would go to the policy committee for further discussion.

Committee members also observed that the state legislature has already "pretty much defined it," and that local policy will need to align with state guidance; the transcript did not specify the statute. No final policy vote was taken; the committee planned more discussion with administrators and the policy committee and to include classroom and administrative perspectives in drafting the final language for the student handbook.