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Beacon superintendent outlines implementation plan for state cell-phone restriction, summer training and policy timeline
Summary
Superintendent Matt reported on summer professional development, curriculum work and steps to implement a new state law requiring studentsto store phones during the school day; the district will survey families and staff, may use lockers if state funding for pouches is not provided, and aims to adopt code-of-conduct changes by July 21.
Superintendent Matt gave the Board of Education a summer update on professional development, curriculum work and the district's plan to implement a new state law that will require students to store personal cell phones for the entire school day.
Matt said the district will survey students and families this week to gather input on implementation details and will hold a policy committee meeting before proposing code-of-conduct changes. "The cell phone restriction law begins next year. Phones have to be stored away the entire day," Matt said, adding that the district has already prepared many policy shifts and expects only minor edits to the code of conduct.
He said the law allows certain exceptions that the district expects to honor, including documented IEP accommodations, use of phones as translators for English learners and case-by-case approval for students who are caregivers for younger siblings. "There's not a lot of wiggle room with it," Matt said, describing the community survey as a way to identify support needs rather than to overturn the requirement.
The district is weighing storage options. Matt said an estimate for pouch-style storage systems was about $70,000 for a district of Beacon's size and that the superintendent and board would prefer to use state-provided funds if available. "If that money is not made available to us sooner than later, then we would look probably to do, like, a store in lockers or something that, you know, doesn't have a cost to it," he said.
Matt noted the district will explain to families how to reach students during the day through school phones and designated staff, and said the transition will include communications before the Aug. 1 effective date. He told the board that final policy and code changes must be approved by the July 21 meeting in order to be in place by August 1.
In the same report, Matt summarized other summer work: expanding the HMH Into Reading curriculum into kindergarten through second grade with summer and in-year training; reviewing secondary-level curriculum-writing proposals; administrator retreats for observation training and legal training; and summer student workshops for incoming high school students preparing for AP, DCC and honors coursework.
Matt also outlined meeting and timeline items: a facilities meeting moved to June 16, a reorganization meeting on July 1 to elect officers and committee assignments, a capital-project update for July 21, and strategic-planning and board-goals work scheduled for August. He also announced personnel appointments that will be considered on the consent agenda.
