The Iowa City Community School District board spent a substantial portion of its annual meeting reviewing data on the district's personal device policy and debating whether to move toward a stricter bell‑to‑bell restriction.

Lucas, district staff, summarized first‑trimester data comparing this year to last, saying the weekly average of recorded device violations fell from 151.5 to 104.2. He told the board that 11.7% of secondary students had one or more violations in the trimester compared with 25.4% in the initial rollout period. "Our weekly average went down from 151.5 to 104.2," Lucas said while walking directors through the dashboard of violations by building and period.

Directors raised enforcement and equity questions. Director Williams pressed whether some schools (notably Liberty High) had different enforcement patterns; staff noted Liberty has had this policy longer and may show greater behavioral adoption. Several directors said they favored examining a full school‑day (bell‑to‑bell) restriction. "I still support that ... we should be moving" toward bell‑to‑bell, said one director, and another argued elementary schools should not allow phones at all, citing parent‑school communication channels as an alternative.

Staff and other board members recommended a collaborative approach before adopting a stricter rule. Presenters emphasized that personal laptops and new wearable devices complicate a simple phone ban and that policy language should address permitted instructional uses and administrator approvals. Staff also pointed to qualitative feedback from teachers, principals and a study group as useful context for a broader change.

No immediate policy change was adopted. Directors generally urged the administration to reconvene the working group, gather additional input from teachers, parents and principals, and return with proposed policy language and implementation steps, including public communication and enforcement training.