Virginia First Lady Suzanne Youngkin hosts discussion on student cell phone use

Richmond, Va. (Newsradiowrva.com) - Now that the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has released its final policy on cell phone-free education in public schools, discussions about the directive are taking place across the Commonwealth.

On Thursday evening, Virginia First Lady Suzanne Youngkin hosted a discussion about the dangers of social media and student phone use. Around a dozen parents showed up at Richmond Community High School for the Sept. 19 discussion.

The First Lady spoke with Dr. Jonathan Haidt, the author of “The Anxious Generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness” about how children and teens can be affected by being on their phones too much.

“Parents are ready to go. Teachers despise phones,” Haidt said. “Teachers are quitting in droves because for years they can’t get through to the students. So, a phone-free school is really a no-brainer.”

The Times Dispatch reports some Democrats in the General Assembly are proposing a bill with softer restrictions. While VDOE’s guidance calls for phones to be off and put away from “bell to bell,” the Democrats’ plan would add more exceptions -- specifically, for students with disabilities -- and protect violators from expulsion.

The bill introduced Thursday also states that the responsibility of enforcing any policy should fall to school administrators, not school resource officers or teachers to “minimize any conflict with the instructional responsibilities of teachers.”