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Board holds first reading on phones-away policy; trustees debate high-school lunch carve-out and rollout
Summary
Trustees reviewed and edited a proposed district policy that would require K–12 phones to be turned off and stowed during the instructional day; trustees discussed a high-school lunch exception and implementation timeline as the legislature prepares similar statewide language.
The Conroe ISD Board of Trustees held a first reading on a proposed telecommunications policy that would require students to keep cell phones and other telecommunications devices turned off and stowed during the instructional day.
Under the draft policy staff presented, devices must remain turned off and stowed away for K–12 starting the 2025–26 school year, with limited exceptions for medical necessity or district-approved extenuating circumstances. The district’s SHAC (School Health Advisory Council) supported a phones-away approach and staff said several other Texas districts have adopted similar rules.
Trustees debated whether high-school students should be allowed to use phones during lunch and whether a phased rollout or grace period was appropriate. Several trustees favored a controlled rollout and one trustee proposed allowing phones to be used at lunch in high school as a compromise; trustees asked staff to refine the language to allow campus flexibility on discipline consequences while keeping the phones-away principle.
The board did not vote on the policy; staff said the district will continue training, deploy a new parent-staff messaging platform, and return with a revised draft for adoption at a future meeting. Trustees also noted pending Texas legislation that would impose statewide restrictions and agreed to monitor the bill before finalizing the district policy.
