Board delays districtwide cellphone policy; asks staff to bring back stricter option with more data

The Santa Rosa City Schools Board held an extensive discussion of Board Policy 5131.8 — mobile communication devices — at its Aug. 13 meeting but did not adopt the policy.

Policy background: Staff presented two model options. Option 1 focuses on restricting device use during instructional time while permitting supervised or non‑instructional use under school rules and exceptions for health, emergencies and teacher‑directed instruction. Option 2 imposes tighter restrictions (no use during the school day except under specified exceptions) and was described by some trustees as easier to enforce.

Trustee concerns and exceptions: Trustees raised several recurring concerns. Trustee De La Torre and others noted safety and family‑communication implications if phones are required to be turned off — e.g., use of location apps, monitoring of medical devices, and parent contact during emergencies. Staff and trustees acknowledged statutory exceptions for students with IEPs and medical needs and those exceptions were referenced repeatedly. Trustees also said enforcement consistency matters: pilot sites that enforced a stricter regime reduced student pushback when enforcement was uniform, whereas inconsistent enforcement produced more incidents.

Pilot programs and data requests: Staff said the present draft drew on pilot programs at Santa Rosa High and Montgomery High. Trustees asked for a staff presentation of pilot outcomes, the student survey data (more than 2,000 secondary students were surveyed), and district‑wide implications including elementary and charter sites that were not part of the pilots. Several trustees urged direct student input and broader family outreach before final adoption.

Board direction: After wide discussion the board declined to adopt the policy at the meeting. Trustees instructed staff to treat the item as a first reading and return with a version aligned to option 2 (the more restrictive model), accompanied by implementation details: pilot feedback from Montgomery and Santa Rosa High, student‑survey results and analysis, information about elementary and charter impacts, enforcement and training plans, and a parent communication strategy. Trustees also asked staff to clarify ARs for site‑level procedures and to publicly notify families when the item returns for a second reading.

What’s next: Staff will assemble the requested information and return the revised policy for board consideration. Trustees emphasized the need for consistent enforcement and for not placing unrealistic administrative burdens on classroom teachers for enforcement and parent communications.