Adams Central board adopts state-driven cell-phone ban, attendance and AI-use policies

The Adams Central Community Schools board voted to adopt six policies at its July meeting, implementing a state-directed ban on personal communication devices during school hours and new guidance on attendance and artificial intelligence use.

Administrator Mr. McClure told the board the personal-communication-device policy (51.36R) follows legislative changes and requires devices to be powered off by 8:00 a.m. and stored out of reach until 3:00 p.m. "Students will be permitted to bring those devices to school," he said, "but those devices must be powered off by 8AM, and they must be stored in a book bag or in a locker or whatever you bring to school, where they are inaccessible, during the course of the day." He added that medical exceptions and 504 accommodations will be handled through administrators.

The board also approved revisions to the district attendance policy (5200) that remove language allowing suspension or expulsion primarily for habitual unexcused absenteeism after the state changed the statute. McClure said administrators will emphasize early engagement with families, existing referral steps to local prosecutor's offices when appropriate, and in-school alternatives rather than immediately excluding students from school.

On artificial intelligence, administrators described policies that differentiate ‘‘open’’ AI services from closed, contracted systems and require staff training and updated user agreements to protect student data under FERPA. McClure gave a staff-use example: a teacher drafting a recommendation letter and running it through an open AI tool could inadvertently expose student information. He said the district will pursue closed systems and training so sensitive student information is not released through open-source platforms.

Board members moved to forego reading the full policy text aloud and to adopt the policies without a second reading so they could be in place before the school year begins; both motions passed.

The board said discipline related to device violations will follow a progressive plan (confiscation, parent pickup, detention for repeat offenses), with more serious sanctions reserved for significant incidents. The policies will be incorporated into the elementary, middle and high school handbooks approved later in the meeting.

The board did not set an effective date in the meeting discussion; administrators said staff will notify families and include policy changes in registration materials and handbook updates.