Wake school board gives tentative approval to new cellphone policy, with some caveats

The Wake County Board of Education gave tentative approval Tuesday night to its first-ever district-wide wireless communication device policy, requiring cellphones to be silenced and put away and smartwatches to be set in airplane mode.

District officials, at the board's request, will come back June 3 with changes that would, in part, help the policy be more consistently implemented school-to-school.

Several school board members said Tuesday that they don't want too much flexibility, and they're worried the policy isn't prescriptive enough.

"The challenge is, if we have a policy where each individual school can do whatever they want, why do we even have a policy to begin with?" Board Member Wing Ng said. Ng said a consistent, districtwide policy serves as "cover" for teachers and administrators who have to convince students to keep their phones put away. The school board can take the heat, he said, rather than teachers.

The school board held only a first reading vote on the policy Tuesday, and policies require two readings at separate meetings. That means the board won't officially adopt the policy until June 3 at the earliest.

Board members had discussed waiving the second meeting requirement but decided against it after board members took issue with too many small tweaks to the policy since their last meeting.

That included language requiring smartwatches to be in airplane mode instead of "disabled" and a change that allowed school principals to define the beginning and end of the schoolday.

The board directed district staff used "disabled" instead of "airplane mode," saying disabled was a stricter approach, and to not allow principals to be able to shrink the schoolday beyond the span of morning bell to afternoon bell. They also want the policy to more clearly reflect different rules for elementary, middle and high schools.

"High school looks very different," Board Member Tyler Swanson said.

Board members also brought up old concerns still not addressed in the policy, such as how schools will enforce the cellphone policy beyond possible confiscation of phones, with several board member suggesting a physical mechanism for storing devices, such as a shoe organizer that could hang on the classroom door.

Board Chairman Chris Heagarty said a consistent policy with clear implementation can turn the cellphone policy into a routine. He envisioned students coming into class everyday and reflexively putting their phones in some kind of desginated place.

"It's about de-escalation and it's about de-emphasizing the conlict of the phone and just tryng to make it a normative behavior," Heagarty said.

The board still plans to have the policy in place by the start of the next school year, which begins July 7 for year-round schools.

The policy isn't very prescriptive beyond simply requiring schools to limit cellphone use -- something nearly all of them already do, under their own terms -- and allowing school employees to confiscate cellphones if they see them being improperly used.

The school board's policy is structured like a template that would allow principals to continue their varying approaches, if they believe they are working, and also potentially comply with a new state law with similar requirements for school boards to restrict cellphones.

States and school systems across the country are cracking down further on cellphone use in schools, which is seen as a distraction to learning and part of a larger problem of too much screen use among young people and even adults.

Most schools in Wake and the rest of the nation have restricted cellphone use for years, but recent Wake survey data shows many teachers and parents still think cellphones are a problem, raising questions about the potential impact of new rules.

What Wake's proposed cellphone policy does

The school board's proposed Policy 4318 Student Use of Personal Wireless Communication Devices largely requires phones to be put away but has some exceptions. These are the main points:

• At all schools, phones must be silenced and put away during the school day. High schools can allow devices to be used during lunch times or class transitions, but it's up the principal.
• Smartwatches must be in airplane mode
• There are some exceptions: Cellphones would be allowed for students with accommodation needs in their disability plans, when teachers authorize their use for learning or during emergencies.
• Staff can limit cellphone use on buses when cellphone use potentially interferes with safety
• School staff can confiscate a cellphone if the student is not complying
• Confiscated phones should be returned at the end of class, but administrators can determine that a phone should be confiscated for the rest of the day, of even require a parent or guardian to pick it up, if the student is especially disruptive or has repeatedly violated the rule

What's next for cellphone policies

The school board's proposed new policy could be due for an update soon, if state lawmakers change any provisions to the two bills currently seeking to crack down on cellphone use.

The Senate has passed one bill, and the House has passed another. While cellphone restrictions have bipartisan support, it's unclear what the final language might be of any law that ultimately gets passed.

Both bills require school boards to pass system-wide policies cracking down on cellphones at a minimum.

House Bill 87 focuses only on cellphones, while Senate Bill 55 requires schools to restrict access to electronic devices, including laptops or tablets, during instructional time unless being authorized for an academic use.