WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) – The majority of a Blue Ribbon Task Force on Student Screen Time voted to recommend cell phones be restricted during the school day for elementary, middle, and high school students across Kansas.
The task force is calling for what’s known as ‘Bell to Bell’ policies, meaning students would not be able to get to their phones throughout the school day, including during lunch and in between class periods.
The task force also decided the phones would get stored in a secure location that students can’t reach, something one teacher says, at the local level, can be tough to enforce.
“Our school has implemented a policy that’s supposed to keep kids from getting on their phones, and yet, their kids still, the kids still have access to those phones,” says Derby teacher Tawna Hall. “They’re in their pocket, they’re in their backpack, they’re tucked up in their hoodie, they’re those places, and as long as those kids can have access to the phones.”
Educators, parents, and even students spoke about the pros and cons of not having access to phones during the school day.
High school student Ava Gustin spoke about why she thinks it’s important for students to take a break from social media and technology.
“I was diagnosed with an eating disorder as well as OCD, and I strongly believe that if phones weren’t so prevalent in my high school or so prevalent in society, that this wouldn’t have been so harmful for me,” Gustin said.
In the task force’s latest meeting last week, some did show hesitation about what these policies would mean for emergency situations in schools.
The task force however, is also looking at helping change some of those emergency procedures.
“This is really talking about developing safety plans that do not require them to use either their personal devices or school issued devices, and pretty much everything we have heard from law enforcement and authorities say that they don’t want kids on those devices,” says Rep. Scott Hill (R – Abilene) It does not, it does not preclude that those devices can be used in an emergency situation to contact notifying of location. It doesn’t really say that there. It just says that they’re not dependent on that.”
Wichita Public Schools tightened restrictions on cell phone usage itself last year, with elementary and middle school students having to put their phones away for the school day.
