Rochester board hears survey results on student electronic device restrictions ahead of July vote

The Rochester Board of Education heard preliminary survey results on a proposed policy to restrict student personal electronic devices, with administrators and trustees discussing emergency access, equity and special-education exceptions ahead of a scheduled July 31 vote.

Communications chief Marisol Ramos Lopez told the board on July 8 that the district had received 477 survey responses as of that evening: about 18% from students, 42.8% from parents and guardians and 39.2% from teachers. Ramos Lopez said respondents showed mixed views on restrictions, with a plurality supporting limits but a notable share opposed.

The survey asked how schools should store devices during the school day. Ramos Lopez said the top responses were lockers or secured storage, lockable classroom pouches (some schools use a commercially available Yonder pouch) and collection by school staff. She said the district's middle and high schools already use cell-phone policies and that school chiefs were working with principals on implementation. The survey remains open through July 11, she said.

Board members focused on how students and families would contact each other in emergencies and how disciplinary consequences would fit into the district code of conduct. Commissioner Lebron said her constituents worry both about parents needing to reach children and children needing to reach parents, and she asked how schools would decide what constitutes an emergency. Commissioner Patterson asked for raw numbers behind the percentages. Commissioner Griffin raised concerns about students with IEPs, 504 plans and other required accommodations and whether devices needed for instruction, translation, medical monitoring or caregiving would be exempt.

Ramos Lopez and Dr. Rosser, the superintendent, told the board that exceptions would follow Governor Kathy Hochul's guidance: devices required for instructional purposes, devices outlined in a student's IEP, equipment needed to manage medical conditions, devices required for translation or language access, and devices necessary for students serving as caregivers would be allowed. The district will publish school-level communication plans telling families how to reach students through the main office and how schools will handle emergency contact.

Ramos Lopez said the board would be presented with final survey data next week and that work to implement the policy would begin Aug. 1 if the board adopts it on July 31. She said schools will use multiple communication methods — direct school communication, robocalls, email, website posts and social media — to explain how families can reach students after a policy is enacted.

Board members asked that the district include in the question log plans for mental-health responses, enforcement methods that minimize exclusionary discipline, and how schools will handle non-phone devices such as smartwatches, tablets and wearable tech. Those items will be added to the board question log for follow-up.

The public hearing for this policy drew no in-person speakers that night; the district encouraged written comment via the website through Aug. 7.