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Board reviews draft policy to use geofence app at high schools to limit social media access
Summary
District staff presented a draft change to Vision‑to‑Policy 36‑30 to allow a third‑party geofencing app to restrict non‑whitelisted apps on student phones at high schools; trustees asked about enforcement, privacy and counseling supports and staff said the policy will return for approval after edits.
Bozeman School District staff presented proposed changes to Vision‑to‑Policy 36‑30 that would permit a vendor app to create a geofence around high school campuses and disable non‑whitelisted apps for students who install the application. Casey said the policy exempts elementary and middle schools and that the district intentionally left the app name out of policy language so it can be updated in the future.
"It gives school administration the ability to lock down during the school day, apps that, we're trying to give adolescent brains a break from," Casey said. Trustees asked whether teachers would be responsible for enforcement; staff replied that administration would manage the system and that classroom management expectations remain unchanged. Staff said the app will interface with student information systems to report phone numbers, whether the app is installed and certain phone settings, and that there is no consequence for not installing the app but there is a consequence for using a phone at the high school without the app.
Trustees raised privacy and workload questions and asked about accompanying digital‑citizenship education. Staff pointed to existing counseling curriculum and said additional counseling FTEs and curricular work are planned to support students. The board did not vote on the policy; staff will bring revised policy and draft handbook language back at a future meeting for approval.
