Decatur Public Schools bans student phone usage

DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) — Decatur Public Schools has a new policy with their cell phones.

After discussions at multiple meetings, the Decatur Public School Board of Education has voted to ban cell phones as a part of the new Electronic Devices policy for all students during the school day. All students will have to keep their phones and other devices in their locker or a location designated by the students’ teacher.

Some members of the board said the policy will bring positive changes to the school environment. Phones during the school day distract students to inhibit academic performance and incite fights on social media that escalate in-person, members said.

Previous versions of the rules included high schoolers allowing them to use their phones on their lunch periods.

Board member Mark Reynolds was the one who proposed amending the order to not allow high school students to use their phones at lunch.

“I don’t believe that instituting this at lunchtime is not going to make it easier for administration to enforce; it’s going to make it harder,” Reynolds said. “The idea of making an exception for half an hour to use… I think it brings into the mix a variable that has no positive side to it.”

That amendment banning phone use during high schoolers’ lunch periods passed the board 3-2. The full policy passed 4-1.

Another member, Al Scheider, was against the school board banning phones in the cafeteria right now, but believes the policy will help eliminate distractions for the students.

“I would like to give the high school students a chance to see if they can appropriately use cell phones during lunch,” Scheider said. “The administration would be monitoring it very closely, and if we saw there were a lot of problems coming up during lunch, that we could amend the policy anytime during the year.”

Board Vice President Jason Dion voted against both the measure and the amendment. He wanted to table it to develop the policy further, including the provision that does not allow any strikes for “belligerent” parents at the school upset over the policy.

Other school districts in Central Illinois are considering changing their phone policies. Several other school agencies including the Los Angeles City Schools’ board and the Virginia Department of Education have made national headlines this summer to heavily restrict phones in the classroom.

The policy would go into effect starting in August with the start of the school year.

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