Sweet Home Central outlines districtwide plan to ban personal internet-enabled devices during school day; town hall scheduled

The Sweet Home Central School District presented a recommended policy to prohibit students from using personal internet-enabled devices on school grounds during the school day in order to comply with New York State Education Law. The committee recommended the ban take effect for the 2025–26 school year, with a community town hall scheduled next week and a vote by the board in August.

The district said the prohibition applies “bell to bell” — from the start to the end of the school day — and covers school grounds including playgrounds, athletic fields and other property. Janine Nokoski, a Spanish teacher at the middle school and committee member, said the law requires districts to assemble local stakeholders and adopt a written plan. “The law states that we had to bring together local stakeholders, which is where our committee came from,” Nokoski said.

The district said the committee collected student feedback from at least 174 students and sought input from teachers, counselors, parents and administrators. Ali Ojiburi, a parent who also works in the district technology department, read the policy definition for the committee: personal internet-enabled devices include “smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, laptops, gaming consoles, Fitbits, Google glasses, VR headsets, MP3 players, iPads” and other devices that can connect to the internet; devices that cannot connect to the internet and district-provided devices for instruction are excluded.

Officials described a set of documented exemptions. Cheryl Palmer, a middle school counselor speaking for the committee, said medical and legally required uses will be allowed when documented: “It would have to be part of their healthcare plan. It would need to be a written doctor's note for that.” She added that accommodations specified in Individualized Education Programs or Section 504 plans would be preserved and flagged in the district student information system (PowerSchool).

The committee proposed building-level implementation details and a staged set of consequences intended to be consistent across the district. Elementary schools will identify one to two staffed locations where students may use devices to contact families; secondary schools will identify two to three locations. Teachers may permit device use for instruction at their discretion. For violations the recommended steps are: first offense, the device turned in for the day and returned to the student at dismissal; second offense, the device turned in and a parent asked to pick it up; repeat offenses could lead to multi-day turn-in sequences and, for refusal to comply, a range of in-school or out-of-school responses depending on severity.

The district said it expects no large new cost to the district and that New York State will provide an implementation grant of about $13,000 to support rollout and classroom technology needs where teachers rely on headphones or other internet-enabled instructional tools. The committee also noted it will continue to monitor the policy’s effects and must report how consequences are administered beginning Sept. 1 under the state requirement.

District staff urged family partnership and communications. The presenters said a town hall will be held next Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. for questions and feedback; the board is expected to vote in August and, if approved, the plan will be incorporated into the code of conduct for the 2025–26 school year. The committee plans to reconvene periodically during the school year to review implementation and make adjustments.

How the policy will work in each building will be decided locally by principals, who will publicize identified device-use locations and the building email addresses families should use if they need to reach a student. The district emphasized that calling the school office remains an option for urgent messages.

Community members can attend the town hall, send written comments to the district, and review the draft plan on the district website once posted.