Eight years after first proposed, the Jericho Board of Education on Jan. 23 unanimously approved a ban on cell phones in classrooms.
The ban will allow cell phones to be used in classroom activities if instructed by the teacher and will allow students to use their personal laptop or iPad if it is preferred instead of their district-issued device.
David Cohen, assistant superintendent for educational operations and human resources, said district parents strongly support the ban according to parent responses on a district-wide survey. He said the survey received 660 responses from parents representing children in the district’s elementary, middle and high schools.
Cohen said approximately 67% of parents said they were in support of a district policy banning the use of personal devices during specified hours. He said supporters of the policy believe it would improve student focus and enhance social skills, while opponents said cell phone use is the personal responsibility of the student and cited safety concerns with the ban.
Cohen said parents said device restrictions should be geared to student developmental stages, with stricter rules for younger students and flexible guidelines for older students.
“Several parents suggest that schools should focus on teaching students how to use devices responsibly rather than banning them outright,” he said.
Parents supported consequences from misuse from teachers and administrators, including warnings, phone calls home, confiscation and in-person parent meetings.
“In general, parents combined felt pretty strongly that any of these four could be suitable consequences,” Cohen said.
Cohen said parents were less supportive of consequences such as detention and suspension, with 65.5% disagreeing with detention and 80.2% disagreeing with suspension. Some parents said the threat of detention and suspension would cause “unnecessary” stress on students and will “create resentment” between students and administration, Cohen said.
The ban received far less support from students than parents.
In a survey sent out to the students, the district received 745 responses from sixth- through 12th grade, with the highest participation rate in grades seven, 10 and 11, Cohen said. According to Cohen’s presentation, 87.7% of the students surveyed oppose the banning of devices in any way. Over 80% of students agree that device policy should be left up to a teacher’s discretion.
Some students said their personal devices allow them to work more efficiently, citing the school’s Chrome books as “slow,” Cohen said. One student said they have created strategies on personal devices that help with their learning disabilities and worry their grades will drop if taken away, he said.
Cohen recommends that the district develop a flexible policy tailored to students’ developmental stages, prioritizing teacher discretion in their classrooms. He said the district should primarily focus on cell phones in learning spaces and promote digital responsibility.
Board Trustee Samuel Perlman said a flexible policy would be more difficult to enforce and that an outright ban in the classroom would be easier. Perlman said he has spoken with the Locust Valley Central School District about their cell phone ban, which he said has been successful since its implementation.
Superintendent Hank Grishman said he has heard from teachers that they would like to have the option to use cell phones in the classroom for student activities.
“I’ve heard from many teachers that they want to maintain the right of saying ‘if we want to use cell phones instructionally, we have that right,’” he said. “I trust our teachers.”
The Board of Education’s policy will ban the use of cell phones in classrooms, unless students are instructed by their teachers to use their devices for approved activities. The use of other personal devices like laptops and tablets will be permitted.
