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Board approves student handbooks; detailed debate set for cell‑phone policy in September
Summary
The Pewaukee School District board approved updated parent and student handbooks for all four buildings July 21, while members debated a forthcoming stricter student cell‑phone policy that will come back for first reading in September and likely be implemented later.
The Pewaukee School District board approved revised parent and student handbooks for its four schools on July 21, but members engaged in a prolonged discussion over a separate district cell‑phone policy that administrators said will come back for formal consideration in September.
Administrators presented the handbooks, which include tightened language on personal communication devices, and said the board typically approves handbooks annually. "The intention around what we did with the handbooks...was to kind of go to what our perception was the floor of where we think this is going," an administrator told the board, noting the final policy language will be decided after policy‑committee discussion. The board then moved and approved the handbooks by voice vote.
Board member Stacy raised concerns about leaving classroom‑level discretion in place, saying, "I do not want classroom teachers to have the authority to have their own policy in their room personally." Other members urged clear, tightly defined exceptions for classroom uses that support instruction—administrators cited video production, coding and music‑technology courses as examples that may require device access.
Brian, speaking from administration, described the administrators’ intent: "From our vantage point, when we use that language in there, it's to keep the door open for our video production class...they and coding both use their phones very specifically for the work that they do." The board discussed creating an administrative approval process for one‑off instructional uses and agreed that if the board adopts a different district policy later, the handbooks would be amended to reflect that decision.
Board members clarified the expected timeline: the policy committee will send recommended language to the full board for first reading at the September meeting, with the earliest possible implementation later in the school year (administrators suggested a semester or January rollout if the board adopts a stricter "away all day" approach).
The board approved the handbooks for Piwaukee Lake, Horizon Elementary, Asa Clark Middle School and Pewaukee High School as presented. Members said they want consistent definitions of "instructional purpose" and explicit administrative procedures so building leaders interpret the policy uniformly.
The board also invited public input and indicated it would collect parent and student feedback before finalizing any sweeping restrictions on personal devices.
