Board delays final approval of personal electronic devices policy, seeks "bell-to-bell" language and limits on out-of-school suspension

The Kingston City School District board held discussion on Policy 5695, the student personal electronic devices policy, and declined to adopt final language at the meeting pending clarifications requested by trustees.

Policy staff presented Policy 5695 as a second reading with some minor wording changes. A trustee said the board must explicitly reflect New York State’s requirement for a bell-to-bell ban on use of devices in the policy; the trustee said that requirement was not present in the current draft.

“I acknowledge that I’m on the policy here in Maine, but I was not able to attend. The first is my understanding with the New York State mandated that we’re required to list out that there is a bell to bell ban,” a trustee said during discussion (board member identified in transcript by role). Policy staff (Margaux) agreed to review the statutory language and update the draft to ensure compliance with state law.

Trustees also pressed for clarification of the chain of command for approving exemptions from the device policy. One trustee asked who would sign off on exemption requests; policy staff said exemptions would be handled at the building level.

A separate concern centered on use of suspension as a disciplinary response. A trustee noted that current language in the draft references suspension and asked that the policy explicitly say that out-of-school suspension cannot be used solely for device violations, consistent with state discipline law. The transcript records the trustee pointing to “line number 51 50 2” as the location in the draft referencing suspension and proposing language changes such as specifying in-school suspension where appropriate.

Board members agreed to table the item for tonight and to return with edits. One trustee said the policy would be amended and re-presented for a motion at a subsequent meeting; another noted the policy review process would continue at the next policy committee meeting. The transcript does not record a final roll-call on Policy 5695 at this meeting.

Why it matters: the policy governs daily device use and discipline across district schools; trustees emphasized the need to align district policy with state law and to guard against using out-of-school suspension as the sole penalty for device violations.

Next steps: policy staff will update the draft to include explicit state-language references where required, clarify the exemption approval chain, and revise or replace suspension language to reflect the board’s concerns. The item will return to the board for further consideration and a vote at a later date.