Graham ISD discusses district cell phone policy News Staff Fri, 08/16/2024 - 9:48 am
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Graham ISD Board of Trustees President Chris Blanton (left) speaks Wednesday, Aug. 14 regarding the district’s cell phone policy. The district discussed amending the policy to restrict or ban cell phone from campuses in the district and will return in September to continue that discussion.
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Thomas Wallner editor@grahamleader.com
Restricting or banning cell phones on Graham ISD campuses was a topic of discussion at a GISD Board of Trustees meeting this week, with community members showing up to speak on the matter.
While the board took no action Wednesday, Aug. 14 on the cell phone policy for the district, they requested district staff to give recommendations and talking points for the next school board meeting Wednesday, Sept. 11.
Colby Kramer, who has two children in GISD, spoke during the public comment section to start a dialogue on the cellphone policy for the district. He said the current policy impacts the ability for students to learn and educators to teach.
“Having access to phones will lead to decreased focus and engagement by our students. It will also give students opportunities to be a bully, or worse, be the victim of the bully. It will prevent socialization between our students, and it will adversely impact the mental health of our students,” he said. “Parents send their kids to school to learn, and we owe it to those parents to put our students in the best position to learn effectively. …We (also) owe it to our teachers to put them in the best position to teach effectively.”
Kramer requested the board to consider a cell phone policy to eliminate cell phone usage from the first bell to the last bell, including between periods and at lunch.
Students are allowed to possess personal cell phones for safety purposes, according to the district’s current policy. The code states the devices must remain turned off during the instructional day unless being used for approved instructional purposes.
“I kind of feel like the de facto policy is more to keep your cell phones out of sight and on silent while we're teaching,” Kramer said. “I'm not saying that teachers don't try to restrict cell phone uses from kids while they're in their classes. Many do. ...However, this policy, …simply means that there's no cell phones going during the class or at least until they're told to, and doesn't address between classes, at lunch or in other free time.”
If a student uses a cell phone during the school day without permission, the device will be confiscated. The student, parent or guardian may pick up the confiscated cell phone from the principal's office.
Kramer suggested a locking pouch called the Yondr that could be unlocked at the end of the school day. He presented testimonials from La Vega ISD on the pouch improving grades and test results.
“I think logistically, I'd want to hear from our campus principals and APs, …their thoughts on how that might be achieved. But just taking it at face value, the data from or just the narrative from La Vega and some of these others, …the benefits would be significantly greater than the cost, it seems like,” Board President Chris Blanton said. “I think I'm receptive to a change to the cell phone policy. I think I'd probably like our admin teams to come get together, look at the Yondr pouch (and) look at some other systems.”
Board member Brandon Joy said parents and the community will look at how the district makes a determination, if they choose to restrict or ban cell phones.
“It's how we go about doing it,” he said. “The Yondr pouch is one idea. I'd look for some alternatives. To my knowledge, that's the only device that's out there, a physical device that works, but in 30 seconds I found a YouTube (video) that told you how to unlock it.”
Superintendent Sonny Cruse said with any new type of device to restrict students, the students are always going to be one step ahead.
Cruse said there will be proponents both for and against whatever the district decides.
“For every person that's for (a policy change), there's going to be an equal number not for it. So there are going to be those challenges from people that are not for it,” he said. “There's nothing right now that keeps any parent from telling their kid, 'Don't take your phone to school, leave it at my house.' There's not a single thing that keeps any of our parents from doing that today. It can start tomorrow at home. Every one of you say, ‘Just leave it home.’”
The board discussed implementing the policy at both Graham Junior High School and Graham High School or starting with GJHS and getting those students used to the policy.
“I have the issue at the high school because of dual credit because of back and forth (and) where are those (unlock devices) going to be in relation to where kids park. The logistics of it we could wrap our brain around, we just haven't thought about that yet,” Cruse said.
Cruse said the district will not know if anything works until they speak with other school districts that have implemented similar policies and get an opportunity to demo options.
“We all have colleagues in the school districts that are doing something similar,” the superintendent said. “This is a movement that has really started happening over the last 24 months so we're not plowing new grounds, so there's a lot of people to talk to see some of that, to learn from their ups and downs of it.”
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