Williamson County School board has approved a new cell phone policy, which bans access during the day for elementary and middle schoolers, including lunch or recess periods, but not for high schoolers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Under the new policy, high school students will have access and be able to use their devices during lunch or recess periods. It was a clear shift from earlier board discussions, which sought to ban cell phones for all students in all schools.<\/p>\n
During the board’s most recent meeting, on Nov. 17, students from several county schools spoke about how they opposed a blanket ban and shared fears about what an all out ban could mean.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchool shootings are real, lockdowns are real, and the parents and the fear they feel in these moments are real,\u201d said Ravenwood High School junior John Paul Kulkulaka.\u00a0\u201cWould you want your child’s last message to you to be taken away? We can promote engagement while reducing distractions without sacrificing safety and communication.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parents also spoke, but raised a different view point on the subject.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish smartphones could add convenience, but the last decade tells a different story,\u201d said Aileen Wright, who identified as a parent and physician who researches technology and healthcare. \u201cThe problem isn\u2019t just 30 minutes at lunch, but the three hours after. This ban would create the best possible environment for learning, mental health and for our kids to develop crucial face-to-face skills.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some members of the board, including Dr. Dennis Driggers, agreed with Wright, saying they believed allowing high schoolers to use their phones during lunch was a terrible idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are giving them access at lunch, they are still looking at porn. I don’t believe that anyone is talking to their mother about their work schedule for 25 minutes at the lunch hour. And, the girls get back into bullying. A bell to bell policy forces bullying to go down. We, however. can\u2019t measure the porn usage.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the policy’s passage on Nov. 17, the only remaining issue for elementary and middle school campuses is how the phones will be stored during the day.<\/p>\n
A committee studying the issue has proposed three solutions: In a car, a locker or a secure pouch.<\/p>\n
Many on the board debated if the pouches would be a reliable solution or if other measures needed to be taken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“You have to have the phone at least five feet away because if they have it in a pocket or bag, they aren\u2019t paying attention because the brain is still looking for the endorphin release,\u201d Driggers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The policy passed by a vote of 11-1 with Eric Welch voting no.<\/p>\n
The board is planning to review several types of pouches before purchasing them for all county elementary and middle school students before the policy takes effect in August, officials said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Williamson County School board has approved a new cell phone policy, which bans access during the day for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[3006,34179,3729,983,165,16776,34645,3,13470,34647,12074,34180,34184,34182,34181,74,13692],"class_list":["post-307535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-family","tag-k-12","tag-local","tag-local-news","tag-mobile","tag-mobile-phones","tag-negative","tag-news","tag-overall","tag-overall-negative","tag-phones","tag-primary","tag-primary-u0026-secondary-schooling-k-12","tag-schooling","tag-secondary","tag-technology","tag-u0026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}