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Under the current policy for Prince Edward schools, cell phones are banned in the classroom. But over the last few months, school board members have questioned if there was enough “teeth” in the cell phone policy to make students follow it. Now the board is considering a slight change, to make enforcement easier. 

During their Wednesday, April 16 meeting, the school board heard a presentation on the amended cell phone policy from Richard Goode. He serves as the district’s assistant superintendent for support services. 

So what could change? Under the current policy, students can use phones in the school cafeteria during lunch. But once you enter class, they have to be put away and silenced. That’s up to the student to follow the rule and the teacher to enforce it. This would make things simpler. 

“When students enter all classrooms for the instructional day, they are to place their cell phones in a designated storage container for the duration of that class period,” the proposed amendment states. “After class concludes, students may retrieve their cell phones from the storage container.” 

Goode told the board after discussing the issue with current interim superintendent Dr. Joseph Cox, everyone wanted to make things easier on teachers. Also the proposed amendment spells out clearly that if a student refuses to give up the phone when they enter the classroom, that will be considered a violation of the Code of Conduct. And there are defined consequences. 

“It should be noted that refusal to surrender a cell phone or other electronic device when directed to do so by a school staff member, teacher or administrator is a violation of our school’s Code of Conduct,” the proposal states. “Insubordinate behavior is punishable by suspension, exclusion from school events, inclusive of graduation.” 

Considering a cell phone change 

The change stemmed from concerns raised at the board’s meeting back in January. They asked Cox to meet with principals and teachers, to talk about enforcing the cell phone policy consistently and the best way to do that. 

This would still be a “lesser” ban than the one recommended by Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order, which called for a ‘bell to bell’ ban on cell phones in Virginia schools. The school board’s policy committee felt there wasn’t a need to follow Youngkin’s order. After consulting with the district’s attorney, the policy committee decided that since this was an executive order and not a law, the recommendations didn’t have to be followed. Committee members also felt the current cell phone policy in Prince Edward is tough enough, but it just needs to be enforced across the board, in all schools and in all classrooms. 

This was an information-only presentation, so no vote was taken. The school board will consider the proposal during their May meeting.