Wes-Del superintendent outlines handbook updates, including 'bell-to-bell' ban on student device use

Superintendent Stover told the Wes-Del board on June 29 that handbook revisions and policy updates are intended to modernize procedures and ensure compliance with state law, and he highlighted a new "bell-to-bell" prohibition on student use of cell phones and other personal communication devices during school hours.

Stover said the first part of the handbook update is a cell-phone policy that follows Indiana statutes. "Students are not permit permitted to use cell phones, iPads, laptops, or any other personal communication device during school hours. That's Bell to Bell," Stover said, and described a disciplinary matrix: first-offense confiscation with parent pickup, escalating to lunch detention and then multi-day after-school detention for repeat violations.

The superintendent also described updates to attendance reporting (state reporting rules count a school day as an absence unless excused), strengthened academic-accountability language, and rewritten diploma descriptors to align with new state requirements for the class of 2029 (the transcript describes shifts from Core 40 and technical/academic honors to new Indiana diploma categories).

What happens next: The policy batch for July was presented as a first reading and will return for board action. The June policy package was moved and approved on a second reading at the same meeting. Administration said the updated handbooks will be posted on the district website after approval and the administration will provide outreach to parents and students explaining the new device rules before school starts.