Board adopts state‑mandated student devices policy requiring storage during school day

The Northport‑East Northport Board of Education voted to adopt the state‑mandated student personal electronic devices policy that requires students to keep devices put away during instructional time and to follow local procedures for storage.

Superintendent David Moyer told trustees the law requires a "bell to bell" approach and that district schools must develop implementation plans. "We have asked the middle schools and the high schools to develop their plans for how they are going to enforce the policy," Moyer said. He added the policy will be educationally focused at first, with progressive discipline only for repeat or severe violations.

Trustees raised practical concerns about enforcement and security. Trustee Michael Cleary and others questioned how students who do not routinely use lockers would secure devices and whether lockers are reliably lockable. A student trustee described successful classroom‑level systems elsewhere, such as phone bins checked by teachers, that helped ensure compliance.

Board members asked staff to include parent communications and school‑level assemblies at the start of the year to explain the new procedures and to make provisions for legitimate exceptions under the law. The superintendent noted attorneys and policy committees expect the local procedures will be revisited and refined in the first year of implementation.

Action: The board approved the policy as presented. The meeting record shows trustees voted in favor; the transcript does not include a numerical roll call.

Context: Trustees emphasized the policy is intended to be instructional rather than punitive and asked staff to prepare guidance on locker security, a discipline hierarchy and parent outreach.