.jpg)
Last week, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin released the state’s final guidance for how schools ought to implement the Executive Order 33 he issued in July, restricting cell phone use in schools. Local schools will now be adjusting their policies to align with the guidance by Jan. 1, 2025.
The executive order stated: “The necessity of implementing cell phone-free education in Virginia’s K-12 public schools is increasingly evident. Parents, public health professionals, educators, and other stakeholders across the Commonwealth are expressing concern over the alarming mental health crisis and chronic health conditions affecting adolescents, such as depression and anxiety, driven in part by extensive social media usage and widespread cell phone possession among children. Cell phone-free education will significantly reduce the amount of time students can be on phones without parental supervision.”
Draft guidance was available in July and August, and during that time, the state received feedback from the public via listening sessions, group conversations with community leaders, and nearly 1,500 submitted online comments. 77% of those whose feedback was received were strongly in favor of the cell phone-free instructional time.
The primary component of the executive order and the final guidance is that cell phonefree education extends from “bell-to-bell,” meaning that cell phones and other personal electronic communication devices must be turned off and stored before the first bell starts the school day, and may not be used until the final bell ends classes for the day.
All area schools already have cell phone policies in place. At Lexington City Schools, the policy is already close to the state guidance, with devices required to be off and stored bellto- bell. Meanwhile, the Rockbridge County school division and the Buena Vista school division both have similar policies, with cell phones not allowed in schools at the elementary school and middle school levels, and with high school students allowed to use devices in between classes and at lunch.
At Lexington’s two schools, “students are expected to have cell phones, earbuds, and any other personal electronic devices turned off and stored in their backpacks or lockers during the school day, bell-to-bell,” said Superintendent Rebecca Walters, in an email to The News-Gazette.
“Students are permitted to access their devices only at dismissal time,” she said. “Based on this practice already in place for Lexington City Schools, we do not anticipate many changes with the development of a formal policy, as our practices already align with the new state guidance.”
Walters is happy about the directional shift that the policy guidance will prompt. “I personally feel that our current practices, which align with the state’s guidance, allow our students to better focus on learning and relationships while at school without the distraction of cell phones or social media,” she said. “Our school board will be working through a draft policy over the next few months with opportunities for public input.”
According to Tim Martino, assistant superintendent of instruction and administration at Rockbridge County Schools, “[Devices] are not allowed out at all in the elementary and middle schools. At the high school, they are allowed out at class change and lunchtime.”
Martino said in a phone call that “the only thing that would change with the guidance — and let’s remember, it’s guidance, not policy — is that we would just go bell-to-bell at the high school.”
“We’ve had cell phone policies. We’re just being more conscious about making sure that we’re always reminding our kids” about the distraction and harm to learning cell phones can cause,” Martino said. “It gives them a break. Studies are showing that it’s not good for kids” to be on their devices at all times. “It will allow them to focus on their learning.”
As for Buena Vista City Schools, at the middle school and elementary school level, “students can’t have them or use them at any time. They have to be stored away,” said Buena Vista Superintendent Tony Francis in a call, “and at the high school, they can’t use them during instructional time, but we allow them currently to use them in between classes and at lunch.
“So obviously, that’s going to have to change,” he said. Buena Vista Schools will be looking to amend their high school policy mandating that students store their phones in their backpacks or lockers. The School Board will review a new regulation in October and will likely adopt it in November or December.
Francis, like the other school district leaders, is in full support of the guidance and adopting a stricter cell phone policy. The only issue he sees in their implementation is that it is happening halfway through the school year.
“Hopefully it won’t take students too long to adjust,” he remarked. “It’s always easier to start the year off with a new policy than to change it mid-year. I think it’ll be challenging the first month because you’re changing it mid-stream.”
There are differences in the state guidance for different levels of school, regarding the use of personal electronic communication devices before or after the bell. At the elementary level, students may not use cell phones in school buildings or on school grounds, and schools must make policies regarding cell phone use on school buses.
At the middle school level, schools are required to make their own policies “that determine appropriate cell phone and personal electronic communication device use by middle school students, including before and after school, on school buses, within the school building, and on school grounds.”
The high school level guidance specifically mentions that students may use cell phones and devices on campus before or after school. Device use is still completely restricted during the bell-to-bell school day.
Middle schools and high schools are both encouraged to provide “developmentally appropriate guidance and support on the appropriate use of school-issued technology devices, educational apps, and educational tools for academic (both classroom and homework assignments) and for educational research purposes.”
At all levels, staff, co-curricular and extracurricular sponsors are required to use nonsocial- media-based apps to communicate activity and scheduling information to students.
Students at all levels are required to use school-based communication tools and channels to communicate non-emergency needs to parents. In the case of an emergency, parents and staff are encouraged, but not required, to use school-based communication tools to communicate with their students.
