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In an effort to curb distractions and improve school safety, Howard County Public Schools has implemented a new cellphone policy that requires high school students to keep their devices “out of sight” throughout the school day — a move that has drawn praise from teachers and pushback from students.
“Prior to the cellphone policy change, I would visit schools and visit classrooms,” Superintendent of Howard County Public Schools Bill Barnes said. “Teachers were having a very difficult time having students focus on instruction.”
Students were either looking at their phones, communicating with each other or “just consuming media,” he said.
Administrators, Barnes said, had a different perspective.
“They were struggling with the safety concerns related to cellphones,” he said. “Students were organizing during class or between class meetups, or even, if there was going to be a fight. And so that really had us on our heels when we’d see large groups of students congregating, and then maybe a fight would break out.”
So the decision was made to change the policy starting in March of the 2024-25 school year.
Under the new policy, which affects high school students who used to have full access to their phones during the day, students will have to keep their phones out of sight and silenced to make sure they don’t distract class activities.
Some exceptions were carved out under the policy, such as allowing use in the case of emergencies, or if a student has an Individualized Education Program, a Section 504 plan or a health plan that requires use of the cellphone technology.
This fall will be the first full year that the new policy is in effect, but Barnes noted that it’s not a huge hit with the student body.
“Students don’t love the policy of course. Their cellphones are designed (with) an addictive quality to them, but we continue to meet with students and work through implementation,” he said.
Teachers saw things differently, Barnes added.
“We got extremely positive feedback from teachers, primarily because we engaged them in the development of the policy process. We did not want them to become the phone police,” he said.
For one, teachers would not have to enforce the policy, that it is up to administrators to confiscate phones, should a student be found violating the policy.
According to the Howard County schools website, violations would result in the confiscation of a cellphone until the end of the day. And in cases where a device is confiscated in the final period of a school day, the student would have the phone returned to them the following day. For a second violation, the device would be confiscated and held onto until a parent or guardian retrieves it.
And yes, the policy is that students may not use their phone during class changes in the hallways or at lunch.
“That’s the current policy that was passed,” Barnes said.
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