Parents, heed the word — your children, except for a couple of exceptions, will not be allowed to use or access their phones during the school day, starting this year.
The Osceola County School District has changed policy on that, as district Superintendent Mark Shanoff announced at last week’s School Board meeting.
The plan is that, from “first bell to last bell,” students will not be allowed to access their cellphones, including during lunch, with three key exceptions: during a medical emergency, if there is a school-wide emergency (such as a lockdown when, “the cell phone policy will not be enforced”), or if a teacher allows the use of an application on the phone as an academic tool.
In that last case, students will be asked to use their school-provided 1:1 device first, like a laptop or tablet, before pulling out their cellphones.
There will be a two-week grace period for the new rule to become habit for students. The policy, approved and written into the 2023-24 Student Code of Conduct, shows the rule only applies to students, not employees.
The district policy states a student’s phone will be confiscated through the end of the day for a first offense, and it will require a parent to pick it up for a second and subsequent offenses.
“Students that comply with consequences, turning over their phone once an infraction occurs, will not be issued a discipline referral. Refusal to turn in a device for confiscation, or deliberately misleading a school administrator by turning over a prop phone, once a violation has occurred, will be treated as insubordination and subject to discipline and a written referral,” the policy states. “Students may freely submit their cell phones for storage with school personnel to be held securely through the end of each the day.”
Shanoff noted that some of the restrictions come from a new bill, House Bill 379, voted in by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis. As of July 1, students are not allowed to use social media accounts during school while attached to school Wi-Fi — the bill banned TikTok use in all public schools and universities — and would require social media safety lessons for middle and high school students; topics would include mental health, security, human trafficking, and cyberbullying.
“This is the first step to disconnect kids from their devices at school and also create a focused learning environment for our children in the classroom,” said Rep. Brad Yeager (R-New Port Richey), who sponsored the bill.
And, that’s the direction Shanoff said he wanted to go.
“We know students are pre-occupied with what’s on their phones, and teachers are competing with that,” he said during the Aug. 1 meeting.”
He noted that schools like Poinciana High and Denn John Middle had put in their own guidelines last year, with both schools seeing a reduction in discipline referrals and increases in academic gains.
“Another school reported that a physical attack that was planned on phones was thwarted,” Shanoff added. “When hired, you asked me to reduce discipline and increase achievement.”
There are parents who are against this change.
“We live in a very different world nowadays,” Victoria Rettstatt told the News-Gazette via social media. “Having one kid in elementary school and one in high school I believe this rule is old fashion for these times.”
The District will employ tools like Blackboard to be able to push notices to parents in the event of an emergency, and parents will always be able to contact schools directly to reach their children.
“Parents will have way to reach their students, but it won’t be at the expense of instruction or other students’ learning,” he said. “The start of this will be a heavy lift. After about three weeks it will start to take shape and good habits in greater communication will start to form. I imagine we’ll have louder lunches; is there anything wrong with students conversing during lunch? That will be a powerful thing for the culture on our campuses — a safer, more engaged environment for everyone.”
