A balancing act: Valley schools share cell phone procedures during class
Enforcing cell phone policies have become a daunting challenge for schools, and some states like Utah and California are looking to ban the use of phones during class.
However, for Liberty High School, the principal says allowing students to use their cell phones during class is at the teacher's discretion.
"Some of our teachers will allow [the students to use their phones at] the end of class or the start of class [and say] 'Hey check it real fast then put it away." Brian Knight, Liberty High School principal said.
Schools Like Boardman, Howland, and Hubbard are using a similar strategy. They set clear expectations of responsible cell phone use and consequences if the privilege is abused.
Some teachers have strict no-phone zones while others use phone storage to keep their students focused on the lesson instead of what is online
Poland schools have taken a slightly different approach.
Craig Hockenberry, Poland Local Schools superintendent, said they have found a happy medium where students are allowed to have their phones, but they must be powered off all day, except lunchtime.
According to Hockenberry, any student who violates this rule is placed in in-school suspension.
The common thread among all of the districts 21 News heard from is the understanding that it is probably not feasible to completely ban the devices entirely because parents want a way to reach their kids in an emergency.