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Mascot councilwoman urges change to student cell-phone policy after daughter lost trip
Summary
Robin Haynes, a Mascot councilwoman and parent, told the Lake County School Board that Policy 5136 led to her daughter being removed from an eighth-grade trip after a phone fell into a pocket; Haynes proposed a 30-second 'safe-harbor' retriever clause and asked the board to standardize policy language to avoid selective enforcement.
Robin Haynes, a councilwoman from Mascot, told the Lake County School Board on April 13 that Policy 5136’s vague language allowed a teacher-by-teacher approach that led to her eighth-grade daughter losing eligibility for a grad trip after the phone fell out of the student’s pocket.
Haynes said the school verified the phone was never used, yet her daughter’s participation was still revoked. "When a policy is written with vague language . . . it invites unconscious bias and selective enforcement," Haynes said, adding that not every student has an advocate at home to challenge disciplinary actions.
Haynes proposed three standardized fixes in a packet provided to the board and suggested a "safe-harbor retriever clause" to give students a 30-second window to retrieve a dropped device and return it to its stored location. She framed the change as both a fairness and liability issue, saying it would protect students’ property and remove the burden of being a "property warden" from teachers.
Haynes asked the board to align local policy language with the intent of state law, referencing Florida statute 6.07 as context for prohibiting digital distractions while avoiding criminalizing the storage of personal property.
Board members asked which school was involved; Haynes said her daughter attends Gray Middle School. The speaker asked the board to review policy 5136 in a future policy workshop and provided draft language for consideration.
What happens next: Haynes requested a policy workshop to review the packet she submitted. The board did not take formal action on Policy 5136 during the meeting.
