Nebo School District discusses clarifying device policy for junior highs, study-hall phone use
Summary
Nebo School District officials and staff discussed proposed edits to the district's student electronic device policy in a meeting focused on making language consistent across grade levels and on whether students may use phones during study halls.
Nebo School District officials and staff discussed proposed edits to the district's student electronic device policy in a meeting focused on making language consistent across grade levels and on whether students may use phones during study halls.
District staff identified differences between the middle-school and junior-high sections of the draft policy'middle school sections referenced 531, 532 and 533 while junior high referenced 541 and 542'and recommended adding the same clarifying language about students contacting parents through the front office to the junior-high section (listed as 5543 in the draft). Staff said the clarification already appears in the elementary and high-school sections and should be uniform across the district.
The clarification is intended to reassure parents that younger students have a way to contact caregivers through the office when needed; staff described the text as explanatory and not a change to the policy'it does not alter the prohibitions on unauthorized device use. One participant noted the language was borrowed in part from the Provo School District'a source staff said influenced the drafting.
Board participants also questioned how the policy defines "classroom hours" and whether study halls are treated the same as independent-study periods. Several speakers distinguished between structured classroom instruction and study-hall or independent-work settings. A staff member said the draft follows statutory definitions for those terms and noted the district could write stricter limits if it wished, but that the baseline definitions come from statute.
A staff member who had contacted Jason Beardall at Landmark reported that, from Beardall's account, Landmark does not allow students to use phones during independent-study time. Another participant described a librarian at Salem Hills who runs an assigned study-hall period in the library; that speaker said the librarian continues regular duties while supervising students doing independent work, which the group used as an example of how independent-study settings may operate.
No formal motion or vote was recorded in the transcript. Instead, a staff speaker said they would add the clarifying front-office language to the junior-high section (5543) so that all levels contain the same explanatory sentence. The broader questions about whether study-hall phone use should be further restricted were left as discussion points for possible future revision.
The discussion clarified three points that staff and participants flagged as important for any final policy: (1) whether the district will adopt a uniform explanatory sentence across elementary, middle, junior high and high school sections about contacting parents via the office; (2) whether the district will impose stricter limits than statutory definitions for "independent study" and "study hall"; and (3) whether exemplary local practices, like the librarian-run assigned study hall, should be reflected in guidance or supervisory expectations rather than in the device policy itself.
Next steps discussed in the meeting included adding the junior-high clarification to section 5543 of the draft policy and returning with proposed language or alternate, tighter definitions if trustees or staff decide to pursue a stricter rule for study-hall settings. No final adoption was recorded in the transcript.
