The Time to Ban Cell Phones is Now.
The Buildings have started the process. It is up to the Board to finish it!
I think we all agree that the cellphone can, at times, occupy way too much of our lives. Checking calendars, responding to emails and/or texts, checking the status of an order or verifying that a payment for services hit your account… and that is just for our personal life! Furthermore, those activities tend to grow exponentially when we apply them to our professional life and the necessity to stay connected with the office & the customer. As a result, many of us (whether we openly admit it or not) long for a time when we can unplug, even for the shortest amount of time possible.
As adults, I fear that we have passed along these behaviors to our children and, unfortunately, it now presents a detrimental impact on their education and their ability to learn in the classroom. Yes, technology & personal devices have made their way into the classroom. In most instances they are reasonably necessary, and you can probably make the case that their impact has generally been positive. However, in our opinion here at DPS Chalkboard, the personal cell phone is not one of those necessities!
Mike and I have been quite clear in our stance regarding cellphones – we have absolutely no use for them in the classroom. We have posted specific articles around banning cell phones, and we have posited scenarios where banning them would be beneficial in improving student performance. We even made cell phones a key issue when endorsing school board candidates in the last election, so much so that we would withhold an endorsement if they were not willing to support their ban.
Often in our discussions over cell phones in the classroom, many have said: “we have a specific policy, so why don’t we simply enforce the rules?” So, we investigated that. Cell phones are indeed addressed in district policy – specifically in item #5, under Prohibited Student Conduct, in Policy 7: 190 Student Behavior:
Unless otherwise banned under this policy or by the Building Principal, all electronic devices must be kept powered-off or silenced and out-of-sight during the regular school day unless: (a) the supervising teacher grants permission; (b) use of the device is provided in the student’s individualized education program (IEP); or (c) it is used during the student’s lunch period, or (d) it is needed in an emergency that threatens the safety of students, staff or other individuals.
The verbosity of this statement jumps right off the page and the way it constantly twists itself into knots trying to cover every conceivable exception leaves the intent of the guideline meaningless.
It is time for the current board of education to come together and charge Dr. Clark, with the help of her leadership team, to re-visit the current policy and replace it with clear, concise language – spelling out the expectations and consequences of non-compliance. In fact, we will even offer the BOE and Central Administration a place to start:
All students are prohibited from having cell phones in the classroom during published bell-times for their specific building. All devices are to be turned off and kept in their assigned lockers, if available, or in their personal book bag. If a student is found using their phone during those prescribed times, the device will be sent to the main office and the student can retrieve their property after the last bell of the day.
However the district leadership wants to craft the specific language is up to them. The key point is there are no cell phones allowed in classrooms between the first bell and the last bell of the day, period.
We at DPS Chalkboard cannot emphasize enough how important it is for the board to act on this key issue. Addressing this clearly falls under their responsibility as outlined by the IASB’s Foundational Principles of Effective Governance. Item #1 of that document clearly states” The board clarifies the district’s purpose.” This is a no-brainer. The purpose of DPS 61, or any school district for that matter, is to provide an education for the children of the community. We envision no scenario where the presence of a cell phone in the classroom is beneficial to meeting that objective!
When you look at the DPS61 policy in its current form, an exception is made for a student’s IEP. Seriously? Let’s not delude ourselves here. In a recent article on www.k12dive.com posted September 27, 2023, the reporter discussed a study conducted by Common Sense Media concerning the use of cell phones. Some of their findings are:
97% of 11- to 17-year-olds used their phones during the school day.
The amount of daily in-school screen time ranged from less than a
minute to 6 ½ hours with a median time of 43 minutes.The study found that students were most likely to turn to social media (32%), YouTube (26%) and gaming (17%) on their cell phones during the school day.
Let’s look at it this way. The study by Common Sense Media examined 200 students. Their finding shows that the daily median screen time was 43 minutes. That means that at least half of those students spend more than 43 minutes per day on their phones! If you are in a high school in Decatur, this is nearly 15% of your daily instruction time.
Some might also point to the safety concerns as outlined in the current policy, especially for an emergency. In Mike’s and my opinion that is a moot point. First, unless the parent is sitting in the parking lot or the school office, there is not much one can immediately do to mitigate the situation in the time it would take to drive from your current location to your student’s location at school. More importantly, if there is a true emergency at school, it is imperative that the student be focused on the adult at school who is charged with their safety and well-being at that immediate point in time rather than trying to reach a parent, baby-sitter, or care giver.
Finally, to all the nay-sayers out there who are the first to claim that something like this is not doable, you are wrong! It is quite doable, and it is happening right now – with success - here inside District 61. Two immediate examples are Johns Hill Magnet School and Muffley Elementary School.
We first learned about Johns Hill’s efforts at the beginning of the school year, and DPS Chalkboard had the opportunity to visit with the principal and staff to learn more about their efforts. Principal Bonebrake indicated that Superintendent Clark had tasked all administrators with addressing cell phones in the buildings, so the entire staff at Johns Hill chose to make a concerted effort to eliminate them from the classroom at the start of the 2023-2024 school year. Simply put, they are not allowed. If they come to the building at all, the phones are to remain in the students’ lockers until the end of the day. If a student is caught with their phone, the device goes to the office and the child retrieves it when school is out.
After having the chance to visit with them myself, I quickly learned they were finding success. Expectations and consequences were shared among staff, students, and parents. Buy-in soon followed. Every adult (teacher, T.A., custodian & staff member) in the building is on board and works to encourage the students to stay the course. The staff believes that if the students can learn to do without the phones now, they can carry that habit with them through high school. The parents are on board with the policy and, according to some staff members, even students are realizing how much of a distraction the phone has been for them. Furthermore, Mrs. Bonebrake feels their cell phone policy will help them achieve the school’s goal of reducing office referrals by 10% for the school year. Our guess is that if they stay on track with the cell phones, not only will they meet that goal, but they should also be able to exceed the goal quite handily.
Muffley Elementary is another building that has taken on cell phones, particularly focusing on the 5th and 6th grades. Their approach is like what is happening at Johns Hill. The phones are to be turned off and kept in the classroom in their book bag, or a locked container, while they are in school each day - and the children are buying into this My wife, who serves as a long-term substitute at Muffley, shared with Mike and me that she recently had a student come into her classroom only to realize that he still had his cell phone on his person. Understanding the consequences of his actions, he quickly asked my wife if he could return to his regular room to put his phone away. If we take the time to spell out the expectations to our students, explain to them why it is important, and then hold them accountable for their actions, they will do what is expected of them. Let’s not fall into the trap of selling our kids short!
So, will taking a clear stand against cell phones in the classroom be easy? Probably not, but that does not excuse the district from doing the hard work nor from doing what we know will have a positive impact on teaching and learning. For the doubters, whether you are a student, a staff member, a parent, or a board member, I challenge you to reach out to the folks at Johns Hill and Muffley. Let them tell you themselves how it is going for them and see the impact it is having on the students.
For the members of the Board of Education, we say the time has come to act. We here at DPS Chalkboard challenge Messrs. Scheider, Dion, Collins-Brown, Reynolds, Wetzel, Clevenger, and Ms. Banks to immediately take up this issue at the next board meeting. During Board Discussion, follow the process (make a motion, obtain a second, have discussion & then vote) and task Dr. Clark & her district leadership team with crafting a meaningful policy that gets the cell phones out of the classroom. Also, do not concern yourself with how the final vote shakes out. Whether it is 7-0 or 4-3, the tally is irrelevant! All that matters is that the initiative passes, and that the board members empower our principals and teachers with the ability to regain control of their classrooms!