At the Aug. 18 Evanston/Skokie District 65 Board of Education meeting, district staff presented a new personal electronic device procedure that would require students to keep personal devices off and stored for the instructional day, provide classroom headphones and caddies, and set consistent expectations across all schools. Staff said the procedures are intended to be implemented at the start of the 2025–26 school year and rolled out during institute days with monitoring during the first 20 days of instruction.

District staff said the procedure standardizes inconsistent building-level practices and aims to prepare middle school students for high school routines. Staff described the approach as "away for the day" — devices locked away and turned off, not merely on vibrate — and said classrooms will have caddies or lockers for device storage and district-provided headphones for use with district iPads.

The change matters because staff and board members cited research and daily classroom practice showing that consistent routines improve instruction and student focus. District staff said the policy will be monitored through classroom walkthroughs, leadership collaboration, and a cycle of inquiry to refine implementation over time.

Details staff gave at the meeting include: district-provided headphones kept in classrooms (rather than students bringing personal earbuds), classroom caddies for students without locked lockers, middle school students carrying the caddies from period to period while elementary classrooms retain devices in the teacher’s care, and built-in accommodations for students who require devices for IEP or 504 plans. Staff also said translation functionality exists on district iPads, reducing the need for personal devices for language access. Smartwatches that function as phones or transmit data will be subject to the same expectations.

Staff described enforcement plans that emphasize instruction and routines in the first 20 days of school and ongoing monitoring thereafter. They cited pilots at Nichols and Schute schools during the prior year as evidence some buildings can implement structured procedures with limited pushback after initial reminders. The district noted that K–5 already has headphones allotted and that the proposal extends that practice into middle school.

Board members asked about logistics around lunch, recess and hallway transitions. Staff replied that lunch and recess will include screen-free time and that lunchroom supervisors and administrators will support enforcement to avoid confrontations with students. Staff said they will train lunch and recess supervisors during institute days and ask parents to partner in reinforcing expectations.

Staff emphasized that the procedure is matched to district policy and the Illinois School Code and asked the board to allow the team to enact and monitor the procedures, with iterative adjustments as needed. The board did not take a formal vote on the device procedure during the meeting; staff described it as an FYI and an operational rollout they were prepared to implement.