Sarasota students face crackdown on cellphone usage

As the school board convened on Feb. 4 for a workshop, it's exploring changing the policy regarding cellphone use in schools.

Superintendent Terry Connor noted a survey of the public on the topic including students, parents, staff and community members, received 8,000 responses, with the majority coming from students.

The survey drew a variety of responses, with about 70 percent of students saying the current policy was too strict and many parents favoring the current policy. 

Board members ultimately came to a consensus to escalate disciplinary actions around violations more quickly, while also educating students on the potential harms of social media. 

The board explores new possibilities

The current policy requires elementary students to have devices silenced and put away throughout the school day. Middle school students cannot use devices outside of class instruction, while high school, students may additionally use devices during transitions and lunch periods. 

Violation consequences for elementary and middle school begin with a verbal warning, leading on to contact with parents, and eventual possible referrals to Teen Court. 

Board member Tim Enos called a past situation in the district, when cell phones were taken away, "pretty much a nightmare," stating that issues with social media must come back to parental education. 

Board member Tom Edwards said the correlation of the mental health crisis and the introduction of the smartphones "100 percent parallel."

He said the current policy was not enforced consistently and falling back on teachers "at a time when teachers don't have a lot of time. He suggested violations go straight to confiscation, with education for students on the harms of social media. 

Bridget Ziegler has been the only board member to call for a bell-to-bell ban, or a total prohibition on cell phone use.

"If I have to be alone on an island, I don't care," she said. "I believe what I've read. I see it. You can witness it, and... as Mr. Edwards has said, there's numerous amounts of articles and peer-reviewed studies that show the incredible correlation of the quote, unquote, mental health crisis, which is real, and the addictive nature of them, not just social media, but even just text."

Barker said her sixth grader and eighth grader both have phones currently. She said students may use phones for activities from checking the stock market, to homework, with lots of digital learning currently taking place that helps provide data for teachers. 

A former school psychologist, Barker said, "We always say as psychologist correlations are not causations but it's a pretty strong correlation." 

However, she said a body of research suggested a more nuanced approach in line with the current policy.

"I think our policy is pretty good. The weakness was definitely in the implementation and also in the complexity of the consequences," she said.

She also said she was uncomfortable with kids being unable to access phones, with changes around immigration enforcement. Connor later said the district does not track immigration status and the district follows a policy and procedure when fulfilling any legal order. 

Board member Robyn Marinelli said, "That is one more thing that is put on a teacher, and we keep putting more and more and more of societal issues on the plate of the teachers and the backs of the school system when many of these areas are parental areas.

She suggested the district invests in laptops as an educational alternative. 

The board came to a consensus that more education was needed in the realm of cell phones. 

"I see opportunities for us here," Connor said. "We've got community partners that would be willing to work with us to develop a strong curriculum, that we could be a leader in that space."