In a joint letter, the Arlington Parents for Education and Arlington Education Association say the benefits of a cellphone free policy outweigh the cost.
ARLINGTON, Va. — Another school district in northern Virginia is preparing to consider a policy that could ban cellphones for all students.
The Arlington School Board is set to vote on the J-30 Cell Phone Policy on Dec. 12. Under the proposed plan, all students must have their phones away for the duration of the school day, otherwise known as bell-to-bell “Away for the Day.”
A few months ago, the school system approved rules to prohibit elementary and middle school students from using their phones for the entire day, which includes keeping them silent and storing them away. In high school, students must have their phones away only during class.
Four APS secondary schools are also part of a pilot program that uses storage to lock phones away.
However, Arlington Parents for Education said the current rules don’t go far enough. In a joint letter with the Arlington Education Association, parents push to have all students, specifically high school kids, to put their phones away from the start to end of school.
“There’s a lot of research out there now about the distraction that cellphones cause in the classroom and how they contribute to lower overall academic achievement,” APE Member Amy Rzpeka told WUSA9. “It’s six hours. Let’s let students be students and focus on learning and engaging with each other and socially at school.”
The cellphone policy would also have exceptions including for students who use cellphones for specialized instruction plans. Students may use their phones in case of an emergency. Parents would have to reach their child by contacting the school’s office.
The letter also said, “When personal devices are away for the school day, the burden of policy reinforcement and execution is removed from the teacher’s role, allowing them to focus on academics and student well-being.”
Other school districts including Culpeper have already implemented locking up their phones for middle and high schools.
In Prince William County, school board members voted 6-2 on Wednesday night to put their phones away from the beginning of school until dismissal starting in August. While there was support from board members, they also faced opposition from students.
“I truly believe cellphones are a barrier to one’s potential,” PWCS Chairman At-Large Babur Lateef said in the meeting.
“In a world where we have to be terrified for our lives in a place of learning, we should be at least allowed to contact our loved ones to say goodbye,” Ava Schelling, a Woodbridge Senior High school student, testified to board members. “For even more than just safety reasons, cellphones allow us to reach out to our parents, our bosses, our fellow student leaders, and they can be directly used to aid in our education.”
The response to cell phones in classrooms comes after Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an order earlier this year on cellphone-free guidelines in schools.
