Beacon City School District previews steps to implement new state ban on student internet-enabled devices

Beacon City School District Superintendent Matt Levine said the district will adopt a policy by Aug. 1 to comply with a newly enacted state law that bans student possession of internet-enabled personal devices "from bell to bell" on school grounds.

Levine said the law requires districts to adopt a policy and identify one or more storage options for devices, and to provide families with ways to contact students during the day through school staff. "This has been revised to align with new state law regarding Internet enabled personal devices, AKA mostly phones," he said.

The law's timing and details prompted the district to collect community feedback. Levine said the district received 278 survey responses roughly evenly split among students, staff and parents. He said students told district staff they felt they had complied with the previous policy and were surprised by the change; teachers asked for clear, consistent language and specific storage solutions; and parents expressed mixed views, with about 30–40% raising concerns about reaching their children during the day.

Levine described the district's draft approach: elementary students…