San Diego Unified adopted a new, more flexible ban on student cellphone use at school to replace a decades-old policy. But questions remain about how it will be enforced, and one trustee worries the new ban doesn\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n
The updated ban, approved Tuesday, comes on the heels of a new state requirement that California education agencies adopt policies restricting cellphone use before next summer.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Fabiola Bagula said it was important to keep up not only with technology but also with students\u2019 and teachers\u2019 changing relationships with it, just as they did during the pandemic. \u201cI see teachers to this day use QR codes for syllabus, have them vote on specific things, using their phone as a tool,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But she said she also wants to see students engaged, and not getting in trouble for using phones in school.<\/p>\n
The San Diego Unified board unanimously approved the new policy. Even as she voted for it, trustee Shana Hazan said she wanted to monitor it, expressing concerns about letting younger high school students use phones at school.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive me some confidence about why we think high school students should be able to use phones during lunch and during passing periods (when) middle school students shouldn\u2019t \u2014 and have this aligned with our wellness goal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bagula said high schools are welcome to have phone-free zones, but she stressed a need to give high school students greater flexibility than younger students who might be more impulsive.<\/p>\n
In developing the policy, the district solicited and received feedback from students, she told Hazan and the other trustees.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to invite you next time the Student Advisory Board\u00a0comes together, and let\u2019s pose that question to them,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think this is a done thing, because the technology is going to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the new policy, cellphones are explicitly and broadly banned in all schools and grades, but high school students can use them at lunch and during the passing periods in between classes.<\/p>\n
All students in all grades\u00a0can use phones on school buses, provided they don\u2019t interfere with bus operations. And phones are allowed in emergency situations, during teacher-approved instructional use and for situations related to students\u2019 health and to disabled students\u2019 individualized education programs and 504 plans.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s somewhat more permissive a policy than its predecessor ban, which was implemented in 2003 \u2014 several years before the rise of smartphones \u2014 and made an exception only for high school students at lunch.<\/p>\n
Whereas the 2003 policy focused enforcement on device confiscation and other disciplinary action, the new ban relies more heavily on positive behavior interventions and supports and on restorative justice practices.<\/p>\n
The new policy provides for enforcement options including verbal reminders, referrals to a counselor and contacting a student\u2019s parent or guardian.<\/p>\n
Teachers can also confiscate and hold onto a student\u2019s phone, or have administrators keep it until the end of the day. And students who repeatedly violate the ban can lose access to school events or extracurricular activities.<\/p>\n
Local education agencies are required to adopt policies to restrict cellphone use during the school day by next summer under a law co-authored by local Assemblymember David Alvarez and enacted last year<\/a>. All districts and charter schools statewide must adopt such a policy in collaboration with students, family and school staff.<\/p>\n