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Greenwich High administrators propose limited cell‑phone access during free time after stakeholder committee review
Summary
Administrators told the board a committee of parents, students, teachers and administrators recommended allowing phones during non-instructional time after surveys of 1,100 students, 1,280 parents and 209 teachers; staff will return with a consistent classroom implementation plan for March.
High school administrators told the Greenwich Board of Education that a stakeholder committee convened this fall to recommend how cell phones should be regulated in 2024–25 and recommended allowing phones during non-instructional periods (opens and lunch) while banning them during instructional time. "We... determined that, we we were going to, not allow students to use their cell phones, throughout the school day," an administrator said of the committee deliberations before explaining why the final recommendation was more permissive.
The committee ran surveys and collected comments: administrators reported about 1,280 parents, 1,100 students and 209 teachers responded. According to administrators, the majority of respondents supported permitting phone use during opens and lunch but restricting classroom use. The district has added cell-phone violations to the code of conduct; administrators reported 67 referrals this year for in-class phone use. The draft regulation presented to the board would permit phones during opens and lunch and require a consistent classroom method across teachers (examples discussed included pouches or placing phones in book bags).
Board members raised practical and liability questions. One board member asked whether pouches would slow classroom transitions and create a duty-of-care issue if a phone were lost or damaged while the school held it; administrators said faculty will discuss implementation and that they expected to return with a recommended, consistent method (target: March). Another board member asked whether teacher-directed uses of phones (for photos of notes, polls, or other tasks) would be affected; administrators said teacher-directed uses would be permitted under the regulation.
Administrators also said school Wi‑Fi blocks some social media applications and that the district is investing roughly $2 million to upgrade cellular coverage on campus for safety communications. No formal board action was taken; the administration said it will refine the classroom protocol and return with a recommendation.
Ending: The board praised the committee process and asked administrators to bring back a specific, implementable classroom procedure to avoid loss of instructional time and to address liability concerns for devices the school might hold temporarily.
