Indy students heading back to school with strict tech restrictions

INDIANAPOLIS — Parents are getting their students ready to head back to school and many will be leaving behind their electronic devices.

That’s because since Governor Holcomb signed Senate Bill 185 into law – school districts are required to adopt policies regulating tech usage during class time.

“Whether it’s a school shooting, or a tornado, or whatever, the kid needs to be able to reach out to their parent or their guardian and say, hey, this is going on,” said one parent, Odessa Wallace.

Wallace is a parent of students in the Greenfield Central School System.

She said not allowing her kids to have phones in school is a safety concern following an altercation in September of this past year.

“My son was violently attacked in the cafeteria, I only found out because my daughter had a cell phone on her and the school still after an hour had not reached out to me until I showed up at the doorstep,” said Wallace.

She believes other parents in the district feel the same way as she does.

“A lot of the parents are still going to send their phones,” said Wallace.  “They pay the bill, they’re sending the phone, on their kid’s person, whether it’s in their bag, or whatever, with them constantly.”

She added that cell phones can be a distraction in the classroom, but also sees the benefit it can be to learning.

“I sat down with our teachers, and I said, tell me about this. What does this look like for you in your classroom?” said Dr. Jeff Butts, Superintendent of Wayne Township School District. “I talked to parents and said, you know, how does this impact you at home?”

Wayne Township has already approved their new rules ahead of the year, differing with each age group.

“What we have tried to do in the MSD of Wayne Township is to look at different grade levels and have a different release of responsibility or increased responsibility for our students as they go through school,” said Dr. Butts.

Other areas like Pike Township already enforced strict tech policies for the last school year so they don’t have any changes, whereas Perry is still working out the final details.

Lawrence Township School District surveyed parents and has a vote this evening. Their policy would allow students to have electronic devices, but keep them turned off unless a teacher gives permission.

Now this law applies to not only cell phones, districts are also regulating usage on personal laptops, smartwatches, and gaming devices as well.

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