Clayton school officials cite inconsistent enforcement as phone policy meetings continue

At a Clayton Board of Education meeting, parents, students, teachers and administrators spent the bulk of public comment and the board’s staff presentation debating personal electronic device rules and how consistently they are enforced in district schools.

Parents who led the Phone Free Clayton group urged the district to adopt a stricter, bell-to-bell ban and to consider a locking-pouch system. Susan Brockhouse, a parent of children at Wyedown Middle School and Merrimack and Captain elementaries, told the board the group had collected nearly 1,000 signatures and that district follow-up since last year’s request was “incremental” rather than comprehensive. Betsy Malan Smith, another parent, urged the board to “rethink the approach” at the high school and to treat enforcement as a districtwide priority, not a teacher-level responsibility.

District presenters described data and implementation steps. Superintendent Doug Patel summarized survey results and said district figures showed enforcement gaps at…