Governor Glenn Youngkin recently signed Executive Order 33 into effect, which calls for Virginia schools to adopt a full “bell-to-bell” cell phone policy.
The focus of the bill is to improve both the learning environment and students’ mental health.
Some local school systems have already made adjustments to their policies.
Roanoke County Public Schools updated their policy last year. High schoolers can’t use phones during the class period, while K-8 kids can’t use their phones at any point in the day.
Roanoke City Public Schools changes started last year with a gradual rollout.
“It’s a procedural change that we have this year,” said Roanoke City Public Schools Chief Instructional and Administrative Officer Archie Freeman III. “We started it last year with our K-8 program, making sure students who were K-8 were cell phone free all day. So the only modification we are making this school year is to our high school students.”
Last year, high schoolers could use their phones during, before and after school, as well as during lunch and between classes.
“So there will be no cell phones from the time you get into the school and from the time you leave,” Freeman III said.
Now, it’ll be up to the students to keep the phones away.
“They can be away in a bag at this time or away to themselves,” Freeman III said. “We are looking at different options we can put into place in purchasing some things in the future.”
Feedback from parents such as Emily Kacey has been mixed.
Supporters think phones are a disturbance to the class. Kacey hears stories from her son, who talks about the distractions cell phones can cause.
“The distractions that they cause in the schools, and he’s told me from his first-hand experience where they’ve been on in classrooms,” Kacey said. “Kids have not been paying attention to the teacher, or they’ve been cheating on tests because they have a phone out.”
Critics worry that their children may not be able to get in contact with them during an emergency.
“I guess the biggest question is if something unforeseeable happens at the school, which has happened across the country,” Kacey said.
The school district stresses that they’ve taken everything into consideration.
“We’d like to remind them that safety is our number one priority within Roanoke City Public Schools,” Freeman III said. “So we are going to be transparent and communicate with them no matter how this takes place.”
Roanoke City Public Schools will monitor their students through what they call “progressive discipline,” with administrators stepping in depending on the number of infractions a student may have.
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