Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash
The Buena Vista (BV) Board of Education (BoE) heard a report from members of the District Accountability Committee (DAC) on the first of its 2024 to 2025 charges. The report was delivered at the Monday, March 10 school board meeting.
Buena Vista School District Logo courtesy bvschools.org
The school board assigns a charge to the DAC to conduct research on a topic relevant to schools each year. The DAC investigated AI (artificial intelligence) in 2024.
The first DAC charge for the 2024 to 2025 school year focused on cell phones. Specifically, the board requested an investigation into the impact of its new cell phone policies on student success and methods of measuring that impact.
While researching the topic, the DAC read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. The text was suggested by Superintendent Lisa Yates and the school board.
Previous DAC Chair Judy Hamontre spoke to the board about the book.
“It powerfully conveyed to us what has happened to our youth born after 1995. . . The generation whose childhood has been rewired. The generation who will remain anxious until we change the conditions of childhood that are making young people so anxious.”
Haidt states that a phone-based, rather than a play-based childhood, rewired their relationships and consciousness. Haidt says this “rewiring” is the largest reason for the “tidal wave of mental illness” in youth today.
Haidt recommends schools go phone-free for the entire school day.
Cell phone bans or limitations are trending with districts.
The Anxious Generation cover. Image courtesy of Amazon.com.
Hamontre said nineteen states have implemented some level of requirements. These range from full bans to requiring or recommending school policies to offering incentives for policies. Colorado legislators are considering a bill, HB25-1135, which would require districts to have cell phone policies.
The DAC also investigated how other districts implemented and measured the success of cell phone restrictions. Hamontre specifically mentioned Mesa County Valley School District.
Mesa Valley prohibits use of personal electronic devices on school premises from kindergarten through eighth grade and during “instructional time” for ninth through twelfth grade.
“What we found is that each [policy] is suited to their [school’s] particular skill, its climate, its population, its demographics, its community, its finances, which takes it back to each school,” said Hamontre.
The DAC found reception to cell phone policies has been positive.
“The early feedback from the educators and students suggest that the impact is just what they hoped it would be. And I’ve been hearing some of that about our schools, too. More instructional time, more connection between students and teachers at school, and an evolving classroom environment less dependent on devices and more deeply rooted in relationships.”
Hamontre listed some data about improvements for schools with strict bans from one survey:
- Classroom Management – 68 percent
- Student Engagement – 76 percent
- Safety – 70 percent
Chair Cindy Puckett said the DAC considered potential challenges as well.
One such concern raised was how students are meant to communicate during a school emergency without phones. The DAC reviewed information from ILoveUGuys.org and school policy on emergency situations.
The I Love U Guys Foundation establishes guidelines for school emergencies.
Puckett said, “The fact that cell phones are not wanted nor needed during our procedure is is a great positive for that. I know the high school has been running those incidents without cell phones. . . We don’t want kids to have their cell phones when there is a school emergency going on or a practice for that.”
Another concern was that some students may need a phone for medical or other needs. Puckett said the small size of the district worked to their advantage, allowing decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Recommendations and feedback
The DAC recommended the district not dedicate budget funds on methods to store phones (pouches, secure lockers, etc.). It found that kids come up with ways to get around these measures.
Turning off the phones and storing them in bags during the day worked well and is budget-friendly.
Another recommendation was to support teachers to ensure the policy was being applied universally.
Puckett said they did not find any evidence suggesting softening policies in high school was beneficial to students.
“Ripping the Band-Aid off” and rolling over the middle school policy to later grades was preferred.
“I was a teacher for seven years, and any policy that wasn’t across the board clear and there were gray areas was just a gigantic pain in the butt,” added DAC member Anna Winger when she stepped up to speak.
The DAC recommended conducting surveys with students and staff to help measure the impact of the Buena Vista School District’s policy.
Winger said they thought surveys could be conducted every year for a while to monitor progress.
Staff surveys could focus on changes, improvements, and implementation. Student surveys could focus on school culture and the impact the ban has on bullying, cheating, and comfort.
If a survey is distributed to parents as well, Winger said they could ask if they see changes in their student’s success or behavior. Eligibility numbers could also be monitored.
The DAC recommended a curriculum from The Center for Humane Technology.
Humane Tech’s Youth Toolkit is a free guide to social media to establish healthy online habits. The DAC brought the material to the health program evaluation committee.
Superintendent Lisa Yates said the curriculum was not included in health program recommendations recently distributed because the evaluation committee felt its content overlapped with what was already in use.
Yates said they did review it, but added she would bring it to their attention again.
Conclusion: the recommendation to continue policies and extend them to high school was a “no brainer.”
“It’s easy to have a charge where there’s not one point of data saying to go the other way,” commented Winger.
In addition to the cell phone charge, the DAC was tasked with looking into the impacts of a four-day school week on student success. This report is expected later in the year.
