School board reviews cell-phone-free protocols tied to governor's executive order

The Middlesex County School Board reviewed proposed updates to student cell-phone protocols designed to create a "cell phone free" learning environment, the superintendent said.

The policy, developed after a stakeholder survey and in response to the governor's Executive Order 33, would require phones to be "off and away" during the school day. "At the elementary school, they are off and away the entire time they're in the building," the superintendent said. At the middle school, phones would be kept off and stored in a purse or backpack; at the high school, students would deposit phones into classroom phone holders. Phones would still be allowed on buses and at after-school activities.

The superintendent told the board roughly two-thirds of survey respondents supported the proposed protocols. The draft also includes procedures for medical exceptions and coach-to-parent communications suggested during stakeholder feedback.

Disciplinary steps described by the administration would be progressive: on a first offense the device would be taken to the office and the student allowed to retrieve it at the end of the day with parental notification; repeated offenses would require parents to pick up a phone during school hours, and persistent violations could lead to the phone being barred from classrooms unless brought to the office each day.

The superintendent cautioned the board that the division is waiting for formal guidance from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). "That draft guidance will be posted to VDOE's website on the fifteenth. Final guidance will be completed by September 16," the superintendent said, noting the board may need to revise local protocols after the VDOE releases its guidance.

The board did not adopt a final policy at the meeting; the administration said the protocols would be communicated to families and added to the student handbook once finalized.