Board reviews student handbook; high‑school cell‑phone policy and discipline matrix spark debate

Administrators presented the student handbook for a first reading and discussed several substantive policy changes, most notably a proposed approach to high‑school cell phones that would allow students to possess phones and leave classroom rules to teacher discretion. The staff presenter said the policy change is intended to treat older students as adults in training: "in high school, we're training adults," the presenter said, explaining that classroom teachers would post and enforce their own phone rules and that consequences would be tied to student choice and behavior.

Board members raised practical and legal questions about searches, the distinction between middle and high school rules (phones remain restricted in elementary and middle school in the draft), and how the policy would be enforced. Members also debated the discipline matrix: one trustee proposed removing the matrix from the publicly available handbook to retain administrative flexibility and avoid promising fixed consequences in every case; others argued keeping a matrix provides consistency and a reference parents can consult. Administrators noted the handbook retains language allowing principals discretion and that the district would continue to review outcomes and revisit the policy if problems arise.