CLOVER, S.C. (WBTV) – Internet and phone lines were down across the Clover School District in York County, officials said Monday afternoon.
Schools within the Clover School District on Monday, Aug. 4 were experiencing an AT&T outage, affecting their internet and phone lines, officials said in a text message sent to families. It was not immediately clear if all schools in the district were affected.
“Schools and the transportation department are unable to receive parent phone calls,” due to the outage, the text message said.
Phone calls and internet have been down for the district since 11 a.m. on Monday, officials told WBTV. The district’s main office reportedly operates on a different network from the schools.
AT&T’s outage map did not show any widespread outages in the area as of 1:30 p.m. on Monday.
Students across South Carolina are prohibited from using cellphones in classrooms under a new law that took effect in January.
For schools in the Clover School District, students are allowed to bring cellphones to school, but must keep them powered off during the day and stored in their bags. Cellphones are not allowed to be powered on until students are leaving for the day.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signed a bill into law in July that establishes a cellphone ban for students across the state, similar to the ban in South Carolina.
Starting with the 2025-2026 school year, students in North Carolina will not be allowed to turn on cellphones during instructional time in school.
Exceptions to the new North Carolina rule include:
A teacher using a cellphone for educational purposes or in case of an emergency.If the phone use is in a student’s IEP or Section 504 plan.If it’s to manage a student’s health.
Similar cellphone bans have been implemented in several states across the U.S.
—> Related: Why more school districts are pushing for cellphone bans
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