Richland School Board discusses cellphone ban in place at four RSD schools

RICHLAND, Wash. — The Richland School Board spent Tuesday evening talking about cellphone usage in schools, as four RSD schools have taken on the challenge of banning phones.

At the two high schools, Richland and Hanford , it is just during class times. But at the middle schools, Carmichael and Enterprise , there are no phones allowed from the first bell of the day, to the last.

That policy is leaving some students feeling apprehensive, as the school year officially kicked off Tuesday.

“I was a little less excited when I first heard about it. I was like, ‘oh, like, I can't text my friends. I can't text my family,’” said Sheila Dehkordi.

Perspectives, however, can change.

“The research shows that not just learning improves, but mental health improves with these policies,” said Rick Jansons, school board president.

“Especially hearing, like, during the meeting about mental health, like, I'm such a big advocate for mental health and stuff like that, and I didn't that didn't even cross my mind,” said Dehkordi. She is a senior at Richland High School. She said, walking into RHS on the first day of school, there was concern, confusion and a bit of stress.

Teachers came forward to address the phone problem. Then, School Board VP Jill Oldson put some research together to get the ball rolling, including looking at what other local schools are doing about phones, and learning about what the negative impacts from phones there are on students. She specifically mentioned a book called The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt.

The thing is, the high schools have always had a phone ban like this.

“High schools are implementing current policy, actually. I don't think that's policy change. They're just enforcing what the policy already is,” said Jansons.

The new push is about enforcement and consistency between schools, faculty and staff.

“I feel like we need to be specific about how we're going to be consistent from school to school, and how we're going to enforce it,” said board member Katrina Waters.

While it’s just during class times that phones aren’t allowed at the high schools, it’s more at the two middle schools.

“They have taken a big step. They went big or go home. So it's going to be really interesting and I'm excited about it because the high schools who have started to dabble in a little bit, but I think it's, it's a it's a bigger process, because we have more kids, it has the ability to show the board the pros and cons of both,” said school board Vice President Jill Oldson. “I personally, and I'm only a board member, would like to see absolutely no cell phones in our schools. From the time the bell rings in the morning until the bell rings in the afternoon.”

This meeting was just about discussion, to potentially enact district-wide policy at a later time.

“It's not like I don't want my phone. Like, obviously I want to use my phone,” said Dehkordi. “But just coming from it as a, like, logistical standpoint, it's gonna be a lot more beneficial, and I think with anything, it just takes time.” Dehkordi is the outgoing senior representative for the Richland School Board. Tuesday was her last meeting, as she passed the torch to the two new reps.

The process moving forward is going to be about looking at the results from these four schools, and then opening the floor to public comment.

Some school board members also said they see a phone problem in the elementary schools. Policy in the future may also include grade school students in that potential phone ban.

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