Could Richmond County Schools’ new cell phone policy lead to domino effect across CSRA?

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Richmond County students are just three days away from going back to school.

The new cell phone policy approved in June has been drawing attention from many in the community throughout the summer.

But now that it’s in place, this makes the Richmond County School System one of only two school districts in our area that is eliminating cell phone use in the classroom.

School leaders shared their optimism for the policy at Tuesday’s meeting : Chairman Charlie Walker said he’s excited about the effects it could have.

“It’s gonna have a little bit of a learning curve for everybody involved. But hopefully we will see improvement in achievement, attention, maybe less of these crazy social interactions that end up with fights, and things that just don’t belong in the school system. It’s time has come,” Walker said.

School Board VP Shawnda Kettles says the policy has been discussed for quite some time now, after watching students’ misbehavior.

“We started noticing an uptick in incidents, where we’re having fights in school–it’s always a video. Someone’s uploading a video online, it’s during class time, it’s in between class periods–so those started to be disruptive,” said Kettles.

The policy requires students to keep their phones away from the time the morning bell rings until they are dismissed.

According to the Code of Conduct, if students don’t comply, phones will only be confiscated after the first two offenses.

But if they continue, the third offense requires the parent to pick up the phone the Friday after confiscation, and the student gets one day of In-School-Suspension.

After a fourth time, the phone is confiscated for 10 days, the parent gets the phone back after a conference with an administrator, and the student gets three days of I-S-S.

“This policy is not designed to strip anyone of their rights, or their abilities to talk to mom and dad, or to get in touch with their job to make sure that they’re on the schedule. But it’s to help them to focus on keeping the main thing the main thing–which is their education and learning,” Kettles said.

Chris Mulliens is a running candidate for the school board, and says the policy is a great idea, but it could need some adjustments after trial and error.

“We are in the age of cyber and signal, where everybody has a computer. Everybody has a phone, everybody has a smart/digital watch, whatever it is. But how can we make it work for us in our county,” said Mulliens.

Jefferson County High School is the only other school in our area with a similar policy, which requires students to put their phones in a holder before class starts.

So, could this be the start of a domino effect?

“Yes. I do absolutely think that other school districts around are kind of watching to see how we implement this, how we carry it out, and the effect that it has on our students,” said Kettles.

“I think we have to start looking at what works and what doesn’t work, and if it’s a domino effect, again just making sure that we do the right things for the community,” Mulliens said.

The first day for elementary schools is this Monday, August 5th.

K-8, middle and high schools will return on Tuesday, August 6th.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJBF.