HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – Alabama State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey is hanging up on phones in school. He said the current law that leaves cell phone policies up to individual school districts is outdated.
“The problem is they’re not phones, they’re super computers,” Mackey said. “If we were to go back to school and they said when you come to school bring a phone, bring a TV, bring an Atari, and we’re going to do class with all that stuff sitting on your desk. We’d think that was ridiculous.”
That’s why he expressed support for a bill moving through the Alabama Senate aiming to ban phones in school altogether.
State Senator Gerald Allen supports the bill but says there are many ways it could be implemented.
“I don’t think we’re quite there trying to figure that out, but I do think we’re on the right track helping and supporting Senator Donnie Chesteen,” Allen said.
One district in the valley has already implemented its own plan. Just look to Madison City Schools where phones were banned before this school year.
“We allow them to listen to music with them and have them out during their break time, during lunch,” Madison City school superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols said. “But I do think that instructionally it keeps them focused in the classroom and that’s what we’re seeing.”
Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols said students put their phones in a pouch at the front of the classroom each day.
“We have seen that students interact more with each other, we have seen a sense of students doing better in the classroom,” Nichols said.
Nichols said the reasoning behind the policy was clear once they surveyed parents.
“I appreciate that the governors and the legislature are concerned about instruction, but I think it’s a local decision,” Nichols said. “I think local school boards are capable of getting feedback from their community about how to handle cell phones.”
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