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Task Force recommends allowing cell phones for middle and high school students
The Norfolk Public Schools Cell Phone Task Force, convened this year to review NPS' cell phone regulation, has recommended to the School Board that middle and high school students be allowed beginning next school year to carry cell phones to school, as long as they keep them turned off and stowed in backpacks, purses or lockers during the day. The phones would be confiscated if they were seen or heard during the school day.
Currently, students are not allowed to have cell phones at school. Elementary students would continue to be barred from carrying cell phones, if the Task Force's recommendation is adopted by the school division. This is because the Task Force concluded that, from a developmental perspective, young students may not be able to adhere to the restrictions on using or playing with the phones during the day, and therefore it would be unfair to hold them to that standard or to discipline them for breaking the rules.
The Task Force was convened earlier this year at the School Board's request. Parents petitioned the Board to review the school division's restriction on student cell phones at school.
The Task Force reviewed other area school divisions' rules, held a public forum and gathered input via e-mail.
Parents and students were supportive of allowing the phones at school, as long as they are not used.
The concept to be communicated to students and families would be: See it...hear it...lose it!
Students caught using a cell phone during the school day would face the following consequences:
First offense - The phone would be confiscated for two days, with parents required to retrieve the phone and sign a form acknowledging the rules and the consequences.
Second offense - The phone would be confiscated for one month, and a parent would have to retrieve the phone and sign a form acknowledging the rules and consequences.
Third offense - The phone would be confiscated for the balance of the school year, and a parent would have to pick it up afterward and sign the acknowledgment form.
The Task Force was made up of school administrators, teachers, parents and Central Office staff. The NPS Administration will review the Task Force's recommendation and bring the matter back to the School Board in June.
