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Board discusses "bell-to-bell" cell‑phone ban to align with executive order
Summary
Superintendent Carter outlined a tiered cell‑phone ban—"bell to bell"—that would remove phones to the office on first offense and escalate to parental pickup and potential year‑long bans for repeat violations; board asked legal/HR for a model policy for August.
Union SD 5 administrators presented a plan to align local student cell‑phone rules with a recent executive order, proposing a "bell‑to‑bell" prohibition during instructional time and a stepwise discipline approach.
Superintendent Carter described enforcement steps: "If the kid had the phone out, then it goes to the office, the student gets the phone back at the end of the day. That's step 1. Step 2, if it happens again, then I call the parents. Parents have to come in and pick up the phone. That's step 2. Step 3 is the phone is released to the parents, and then the student's not allowed to have their cell phone on campus for the remainder of the year." The board discussed staff modeling of the policy and consistency of enforcement across teachers. Members requested a state sample policy from Rick and planned to revisit a draft in August so the rule could be included in back‑to‑school communications.
Implications: The change is intended to support classroom focus and to meet executive‑order insurance/cybersecurity requirements for district devices; administrators emphasized the need for consistent enforcement and parent communication.
