Huntsville City Schools decides on possible cellphone ban

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. ( WHNT ) — Huntsville City Schools (HCS) will not be enforcing a complete cellphone ban for the 2024-2025 school year.

HCS will uphold the current enforcement of phones, forbidding students from using it if they are learning in class.

If students receive permission from a teacher, they are allowed to use their phone during instruction. Otherwise, it is only allowed in moments of free time during the school day.

Board members are encouraging parents to help enforce this policy.

“Parents do need to be aware that if they have something to tell their students, they may need to wait until 3 p.m. when all students are out of school,” Huntsville City Schools Executive Director of Prevention and Support Services Melissa Veasy-Lindsey said. “And, students need to make sure that they don’t reach out to their parents during the day and text them ‘oh, I left my textbook at home, and, oh, I left this.'”

Opposingly, Mobile County Public School Systems (MCPSS) ruled that their students will have to give up their phones at the start of the day and will receive them back at the end of the school day. Otherwise, students could just leave their phone in the car or at home.

The Huntsville City School Board said they feel as though their policy has been effective enough to not enforce something like MCPSS at the moment. They will be checking in with all of their schools to ensure the policy continues working and is being properly enforced.

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