Sarasota County School Board approves new cell phone policy

After several suggestions on how best to regulate cell phone usage in Sarasota County Schools, the school board voted 5-0 to adopt a new policy revising rules based on the age of the students. 

Earlier this year, Sarasota County School Board member Bridget Ziegler proposed banning all student cell phone use from “bell to bell” at every school across the district. 

While not all board members agreed with Ziegler, members approved an altered policy that regulates electronic devices based on three educational stages: elementary, middle and high school.  

The regulations allow all students to have electronic devices during the day provided students comply with the following stipulations: 

• Elementary students will have devices silenced and put away at all times, and will not be asked to use them for instructional purposes.
• Middle school students will have devices silenced and put away except when under the supervision of a staff member for specific class instruction. 
• High school students will have devices silenced and put away except during time between classes and lunch periods, and when under the supervision of a staff member for specific class instruction. 

“I thought it was high time we re-evaluated it,” Ziegler said. “… I do believe the educational environment should be as clear of distraction as possible.” 

In addition to the regulations set out for each age level, students may not posses any electronic or recording device at their desk, in their pocket or anywhere within reach, even if the device is turned off during tests. 

Additionally, the policy states that students may never use electronic devices on school property or school-sponsored activities to view inappropriate websites, including those that are blocked to students at school.

While the policy was unanimously approved, some members such as Ziegler, Shirley Brown and Eric Robinson expressed concerns with devices such as smart watches that can receive text messages.

“You can do everything you do on the phone,” Robinson said. “If you don’t want them to have the phone, they shouldn’t have the smart watch. So much cheating that could be going on.”

Superintendent Todd Bowden said that as long as the students have their watches disconnected from the cell phone during class hours, they would be in compliance with the new policy. 

Ziegler also expressed concerns that the policy wouldn’t consistently be upheld throughout the different schools, though assistant superintendent chief academic officer Laura Kingsley said it wouldn’t take long for students to understand the severity of the policy. 

“It’s not going to take very many times for a kid to have their smart watch or their cell phone or their ring or their glasses or their ear buds, whatever their device is that can collect or receive their electronic signal, taken away from them to where their parents have to pick it up,” Kingsley said. “That’s going to get pretty old fast.”