The Loudoun County School Board wants to hear from parents as it develops a new policy on when and where students can use cellphones and other personal electronic devices during the school day.
“Students and teachers may not agree on what the policy should say, but they definitely agree that it needs to be consistent,” Aaron Smith, chief technology officer for Loudoun County Public Schools told the board during a Monday presentation to the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee.
Rather than a major shift in rules about when phones, earbuds, smartwatches and personal gaming devices can or can’t be used, Smith said the draft policy largely seeks to codify practices that are currently in place. He said he hopes they can create a policy that will “clarify expectations around personal device use for students in schools.”
Under the draft policy, elementary school students would not be allowed to use personal technology during the school day. Middle school students would be expected to keep devices off and away, except when approved by a principal or teacher.
High school students would be entitled to have personal technology devices with them, “and must ensure that devices are silenced during instructional time,” Smith said.
The policy would also specify limits on how the devices could be used, including no photography, audio or video recording in bathrooms or locker rooms. It would also forbid inappropriate use of social media at any time on school property, during a school-sponsored event, or on a school bus.
Cyberbullying could result in disciplinary action, in accordance with school system’s rules of student conduct. In some instances, law enforcement may even be involved if necessary.
When asked how the schools would monitor forbidden technology use in bathrooms, Smith said the policy would establish the rule but school administrators wouldn’t always be monitoring phone use in bathrooms unless they were being used inappropriately.
“It think of it the same way as a speed limit sign,” he said. “It says 55 and when you choose to go 70, that’s when the cop can pull you over.”
While distractions from personal electronics is a problem in schools, Smith said there are limits to what LCPS is allowed to do to prevent them.
“We get a lot of requests sometimes to block cellphones or make sure they don’t work, and that’s actually against FCC regulation, so we’re not allowed to do that,” Smith said. “There’s nothing we can do to block them, or physically remove them, so we’re hopeful this is a step in the direction to help teachers in the classroom manage that.”
Smith said the entire school board would likely vote on the measure in June, so it could take affect in August in time for the next school year.
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