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Glen Ridge board discusses cell-phone guidelines, policy committee to review model language
Summary
Board members and the superintendent discussed current phone guidelines (K–8 away for the day; 9–12 off and away during instruction), a county survey of neighboring districts' policies, and the policy committee's plan to review model language as state legislation advances.
Board members discussed the district’s current cell-phone guidelines and next steps for formalizing policy language.
Superintendent Maggie summarized current practices: phones are kept “away for the day” for K–8 and “off and away during instructional time” for grades 9–12. She said district leaders have evaluated the practice with high-school administrators and a student committee and recently hosted a community session on navigating the digital landscape with a focus on social media and setting limits at home.
Maggie said she surveyed superintendents in Essex, Morris and Union counties to compare policies and reported that most districts use approaches similar to Glen Ridge’s. “Most are aligned to what we're doing. Happy to share that data out though in one of my Friday updates,” she said. The superintendent said the policy committee will review model language prepared by Strauss S and consider whether to formalize or adjust current practices.
The transcript notes that "cell phone legislation is making its way through the legislative process," and states that the legislation, as described during the meeting, appears to mandate only that districts have a policy; board members indicated that the pending law should not force changes to local practice, because it would require a written policy rather than prescribing specific rules. The board did not make a policy change at the meeting; members directed the policy committee to review model language and return recommendations.
