South Carolina schools limited cell phone policy to come down by October

CLOVER, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Clover High School students will feel the effects of a new state policy limiting cellphone usage during school hours. South Carolina Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver’s policy says if schools decide not to enforce that plan — they’d be in danger of losing state aid.

Clover School District spokesperson Bryan Dillion says his administrators already had a similar plan.

“At the elementary and middle school level, we’ll continue with what we’ve done all along. They won’t be allowed to have access to their phones throughout the school day. They have to be put away,” said Dillion.

Clover schools open their doors on Aug. 1. Dillion says high school students will feel the biggest impact of the policy.

“No phones during the class day. The only time they’ll have the ability to use that in Clover is at lunchtime,” he said.

State officials say a survey sent to teachers in June reported more than 90 percent of teachers support a policy limiting cellphone access — 55% supported a complete ban during the school day.

For now, South Carolina school districts are awaiting a detailed plan. They won’t get it until at least September or October, and it will need to be implemented no later than January 2025.

“We are a 1-to-1 technology district. So every student has an iPad or a Macbook. Anything that they might have been able to do on their phone, they’ll still be able to do with their iPads and their MacBooks. So that’s not going to create a necessary change to the instruction in how our staff work,” he said.

Clover students can still communicate with their parents through their student email.

“It’s not been an issue. It’s something that has been a rule. And it’s been followed very well through the years,” Dillon said.

Education officials are also pushing a book regulation — requiring all reading material to be “age or developmentally appropriate” — possibly eliminating works like “Romeo and Juliet” or Junie B. Jones books.

Any parent with a child enrolled in a public K-12 school in the state can challenge up to five titles a month if they feel they violate those terms. Dillion says the district will follow that policy.

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