The Somers Central School District Board of Education on an emergency basis adopted a state-required personal electronic device policy intended to create “distraction-free” schools, and authorized use of reimbursement funds to buy lockable pouches for high school students.

Board members said the policy is required by the state by Aug. 1 and that the district’s version preserves classroom device use for educational purposes while restricting internet-enabled personal devices during instructional time. “There’s a euphemism for the internet enabled device ban, which is distraction free schools,” Superintendent Adam said during the discussion.

The district’s policy allows devices that are registered and managed under the district acceptable use policy to be used for classroom instruction. Adam said lockers, lockable pouches and an approved central repository are the state’s acceptable storage options and that the district will not use a daily central repository for devices.

The most notable change affects the high school, where placing a device in a backpack will no longer meet the state’s required storage standard. Adam said the district will purchase lockable pouches — funded with state reimbursement dollars tied to the policy — and distribute unlocking mechanisms to staff and wall-mounted stations so students can retrieve pouches at egress. He cautioned the district is still determining how to manage peak times (for example, when many students leave for buses or after-school activities) and that pouches may be used as a tiered disciplinary step rather than the initial response.

Board members discussed ambiguities raised by the district’s prior BYOD (bring-your-own-device) practices and a sample optional sentence from NISBA that would have swept ordinary school supplies such as calculators and earbuds into a broader personal-device rule; the board removed that optional sentence. Adam said the policy as written permits students who are not part of the district’s 1:1 device program to bring personally owned laptops or tablets for educational purposes provided they are registered and subject to the district’s network management.

The policy’s carve-outs include before- and after-school periods, athletics, and students who go off campus for lunch. Adam said building administrators will add implementation details to student handbooks and that families should expect more information in August with the “welcome back” materials.

The board approved the policy on a voice vote after the superintendent’s presentation. The record shows no roll-call tallies in the transcript; the board chair called for “all in favor” and members responded in the affirmative.

District officials said timelines for receiving ordered pouches are not yet certain. The policy will be implemented at the building level, with each school developing procedures within the district code of conduct and handbooks to comply with the state mandate.