Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Cell Phone Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Trustees push for stricter enforcement of phone rules; policy rewrite unlikely before fall
Summary
Board directed the superintendent to enforce current cell phone rules while a formal policy rewrite will proceed through administration and the policy advisory committee with a draft expected by September.
Trustees told administrators they expect stricter enforcement of the district’s current cell phone policy at the start of the coming school year, and a formal rewrite of the policy likely will not be finished before the fall semester.
Trustee Cook said she wants stronger rules “to assist students’ time on task” and to give teachers clearer backing from the board. “I still would like to address the cell phone policy,” Cook said during the meeting.
The board asked Superintendent Doctor Newton to communicate that the district expects existing policy to be enforced as written and not left to individual teachers’ discretion. “I will make sure that that's a special point of emphasis as we begin having conversations with our administrators,” Newton said.
Newton and other administrators described a multi-step process for revising the policy: administration will draft proposed language (likely with input from the Department of Instruction), the proposal will go to the policy advisory committee and then back to the board for a 45-day public comment period. Because many staff are off contract during the summer, Newton told trustees he expects a draft to come before the board by the September meeting and that final adoption could fall later in the year, possibly resulting in implementation in the second semester.
Trustees said they will continue to share suggested language with administration and with the policy advisory committee. No formal policy change was adopted at the meeting; the board issued direction to enforce existing rules and to begin the formal revision process.
