Boulton board adopts state‑required student cell‑phone policy, officials say regulation will follow

Boulton Board of Education members voted unanimously to approve an updated student cell‑phone policy aimed at meeting a state deadline and a governor’s order requiring districts to adopt such policies by Aug. 1. The board approved the policy under action 6.02; the vote was recorded as 6–0–0.

The policy sets core rules — for example, that students must put devices away — while the board directed administrators to adopt a separate regulation that will spell out how the rule is enforced. Superintendent Doug (last name not specified in the transcript) told the board the administration plans to post the finalized regulation on the district website and submit it to the state to “be in compliance and meeting that deadline.”

Why it matters: the policy implements a state requirement with a firm compliance date and will change daily procedures for students and staff. The regulation will determine operational details such as whether students use pouches, lock boxes, lockers or other storage and how the district enforces the rule.

During the meeting, the superintendent said the district has identified $16,001 in state funds from the governor’s office that “we could apply for and use toward” storage options such as pouches or lock boxes. He noted an estimated per‑student cost for some pouches is about $30 apiece and that cost makes pouches financially challenging for the district at this time. “We seem to be leaning a little bit toward lockers,” he said, because those are already available in many schools and would not create an additional purchase cost.

Board members and the superintendent described the committee’s decision to keep the policy language general while placing operational specifics in a regulation so the district can update enforcement procedures without using the longer policy‑change process. The superintendent said the policy is the statement of requirements, while the regulation will cover “how it’s enforced” and allow administrators to adjust procedures if the state provides new guidance.

Student representative Miss Hollenbeck spoke during the board forum and said some students view the change as a reduction in freedom. “It’s their personal property,” she said, describing student concern that removing phone access could feel like an unnecessary restriction. The board said it will seek to communicate the policy and the implementing regulation multiple times to families before school starts.

Discussion items left unresolved at the meeting included: whether one pouch could hold multiple devices (smartphone and smartwatch) and the final selection of an enforcement approach. The superintendent said administrators will finalize the regulation in the coming days, discuss communication with families, and present the regulation to the board for the administrative record.

Next steps: administrators will finalize and publish the regulation required to implement the policy, communicate the policy and enforcement plan repeatedly to families before school starts, and file the policy with the state as required by the Aug. 1 deadline.