Effingham County school district creates 5-step disciplinary plan for cell phone policy

Effingham County Superintendent Yancy Ford said the school district has created a 5-step policy regarding the use of cell phones in school.

Before the 2024-2025 school year, a cell phone would be removed and kept at the school until the end of the year if the student was caught using their phone in class for the third time.

Ford said he decided to offer more leniency this year to meet parents halfway, as some felt the policy was too punitive.

“We don't want to confiscate cell phones and keep them to the end of the year,” said Ford. “We realize that parents feel like that's their property and they pay that bill. We've put additional steps in there that have punishment attached to it.”

Below are the new five disciplinary steps from the school district’s policy on cell phone use in class, which can be found in the student handbook:

• First offense – staff member confiscates device and submits behavior referral; staff member gives device to administration; administration contacts parents; returns device to student at the end of the school day two.
• Second offense – staff member confiscates the device and submits a behavior referral; staff member gives device to administration; administration contacts parents; student will serve one day of OSS and parent picks up the device from the school at the end of the school day three.
• Third offense – staff member confiscates the device and submits a behavior referral; staff member gives the device to administration; administration contacts parents; student will serve three days of OSS and parent picks up the device at the end of the school day four.
• Fourth offense – staff member confiscates the device and submits a behavioral referral; staff member gives the device to administration; administration contacts parents; student will serve Student Code of Conduct | 15 five days of OSS and be placed on probation. Parent picks up the device at the end of the school day. 5.
• Fifth offense - staff member confiscates the device and submits a behavioral referral; staff member gives the device to administration; administration contacts parents; student will serve 10 days of OSS and is referred to the Superintendent’s Designee for Discipline. Parent picks up the device at the end of the school day.

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Students are allowed to bring their digital devices to school but they must be put away. Ford said the use of cell phones is permitted only under the authorization of a teacher during a lesson.

“We probably don't do enough face-to-face interaction,” said Ford. “Putting in these few additional steps, it is really to make sure that cell phones are not a distraction. We want to try to divert those students’ attention away from the cell phone [so they can be] more engaged with the lessons and educational activities that's going on within the school building.”

Every school in the district has a safety plan in place to handle medical emergencies. Employees operate off the Centegix badge, an alert system that allows people to communicate in real time when responding to a child in need of help. Ford said in the event of an emergency, parents will be notified immediately.

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“Let's say a child was having a seizure in the class - the teacher is going to press their Centegix button three times and that's going to notify every administrator,” said Ford. “Then at that point, we immediately contact the parent.”

Ford went on to say the cell phone policy also ensures students can thrive in and outside the classroom.

“We certainly want our students to limit the opportunities of using those cell phones during the day so that they can develop their social skills, build meaningful relationships, and obviously concentrate more on what's most important, which is the classroom and their academics," he said.

Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at lwilliams6@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Effingham County school district creates 5-step disciplinary plan for cell phone policy