Warren County presenter tells Coffee County board phone-free school policy cut distractions and discipline referrals

Chris Cope, a Warren County school-board official, told the Coffee County Board of Education on Jan. 1 that Warren County’s bell-to-bell phone-free policy has reduced classroom distractions and discipline referrals and improved student engagement.

Cope opened with his district’s data and an in-class experiment in which teachers recorded notifications and app alerts. “We are being overrun by these cell phones. We cannot compete with this,” he told the board, describing 15-minute classroom tallies that showed dozens of interruptions per period and a majority tied to social media.

Cope said Warren County moved to a strict “bell to bell” approach with no teacher discretion, standardized disciplinary steps and secure pouches for devices. He described a phased rollout: teacher and parent surveys, student advisory input, and joint planning with the general sessions judge, school resource officers and school leaders. Cope said the district paid about $100,000 to provide devices/pouches districtwide and that the unit pouches cost roughly $25 each. He said teachers reported more live interaction with students, club participation rose and discipline referrals at the high school fell in months after implementation.

Why this matters: Coffee County board members asked questions and signaled interest in reviewing Warren County’s written policy before drafting any local rule. Cope and several Coffee County speakers framed the issue as both academic (classroom focus, test performance) and social (mental health, cyberbullying), and noted active state and federal legislative attention to student-device rules.

Supporting details and tradeoffs Cope described enforcement steps Warren County adopted: an initial warning, collection of devices on repeat offenses, parent pick-up for multiple violations, in-school suspension for continued infractions and escalating penalties for repeated noncompliance. He recommended a single, non-discretionary rule so principals and teachers do not have to apply different standards in each classroom. Cope also reviewed operational items the Coffee County board may want to consider: secure storage or magnetic pouches for arrival and dismissal, a communications plan to manage parent concerns in emergencies, and training for teachers and SROs on procedures.

Speakers on both sides of the discussion noted safety concerns (for example, parents’ desire to reach children in a campus emergency) and practical questions about communications and monitoring. Cope said Warren County developed standard safety protocols and a communications director role to centralize urgent messages and to avoid overloading emergency phone lines during incidents.

Local reaction and next steps Coffee County board members thanked Cope and asked to receive his district’s policy and staff-handbook changes. Board members asked staff to place the Warren County materials in the policy committee packet and to return with a recommendation on whether Coffee County should pursue a similar bell-to-bell approach, a pilot, or other options.

Ending: Cope said he is willing to share the Warren County policy package and related materials; Coffee County board members asked staff to include those documents in the policy review process so the board can consider a local proposal.