Superintendent reports midyear data on electronic‑device policy; high school shows uptick in referrals

The Wallingford‑Swarthmore School District superintendent presented a midyear update March 3 on implementing the district's electronic‑devices policy, telling the policy committee the administration is using teacher ‘pulse checks,’ office‑discipline‑referral (SWIS) data and repeated teacher and student surveys to evaluate the rule.

The superintendent said the December pulse checks across the three elementary schools and the middle school showed “100 percent of our staff members said that they report a low frequency of unpermitted devices,” but that the high school had a measurable shift: “At the high school, 67% of our teachers reported low, 29% reported medium, and 5% reported high.”

He and staff stressed that the 179 figure cited for the first semester (September through mid‑January) reflects referrals, not distinct students: “It’s the total number of referrals…there are a number of repeating students in there,” staff clarified. The administration said about 26% of incidents rose to office referrals after multiple warnings, and roughly 25% stemmed from failures to comply with storage rules.

Technology supervisor Katie Kennett, who helped parse the data, told the committee she pulled referral records manually to separate Chromebook incidents from personal‑device violations and that teacher pulse checks and SWIS data show complementary but different patterns.

The administration said teacher and student surveys would be administered before spring break and staff would return with a full evaluation for the full board in June. The superintendent said the district will continue pulse checks three times this school year and combine those findings with discipline records and survey responses to recommend implementation adjustments.

Committee members asked for comparisons with last year’s data and response‑rate detail; staff said they plan to include year‑to‑year SWIS comparisons and the share of respondents in the end‑of‑year package. The committee did not take formal action on the update at the meeting; the item will remain for staff reporting and a June full‑board update.