In response to a new state law enacted earlier this summer, dictating state school districts implement a policy limiting student phone use during school hours, Solon Community School District has adopted their own policy aimed at improving student focus, academic performance, and mental well-being.
The policy, first carried out by the district during the final two weeks of the previous school year, bans all student cell phone use during school’s instructional time.
“For preschool through eighth grade, instructional time is basically defined as bell to bell. So, from the time the school day begins until the time it ends,” said Tim Brown, President of the district’s Board of Education. “For ninth through twelfth grade, it again is from first bell to last bell, but it does exclude the lunch period.”
As Brown describes, the new policy is concentrated on student’s academic and personal growth, seen through the district’s trial run last school year, especially in the younger grades. Difficulties in carrying out the policy arise, though, when considering high school student’s additional responsibilities.
Brown acknowledged concerns about restricting cell phones entirely for the older students, particularly from families of students who partake in after-school jobs or family obligations, resulting in a change for the high school policy.
“We went into it initially with a plan to be bell to bell for all buildings, but the feedback we got is that the policy at the high school was posing some challenges,” said Brown. “That’s where we went in terms of making an adjustment at the high school to not count the lunch period as instructional time. They wanted the ability to use their phone as a tool to accomplish the goals they needed for that day.”
Although said backlash has forced minor changes with how the policy affects certain buildings, the overall rules for the new cellphone policy have been received and followed well.
The Iowa law has some districts requiring students to lock up their phones for the entirety of the school day, but Solon schools have taken a more flexible approach, relying on students to store their phones out of view.
“The expectation is that they’re not interacting with their phones, so we don’t expect to see them,” said Brown. “From the information we got from the administration, there were very little issues at the high school during that final two weeks of the year.”
According to Brown, the execution of the policy within the district has been quite seamless, but when needed, school principals and staff members will enforce a three-strike approach.
For the first offense, the student’s phone is confiscated and held in the school’s office, where they can pick it up at the end of the school day. For the following offense, a guardian is required to come to the school to pick up the phone. As the third offense, the student must bring their phone to the office at the beginning of each day where it will stay until after school.
Brown said the approach to curbing cellphone use is focused on promoting students to comply with the rules, rather than centering on punishments.
“This isn’t about punishing students, it’s about setting expectations and building habits,” said Brown. “We’re not going to be heavy-handed. Staff will remind students as needed, especially early on.”
Solon students will now be encouraged to focus purely on what is at the forefront of their school’s classroom. With the new policy comes a minimization of outside distractions and a prioritization of in person interaction, fostering what the administration believes will be a healthier school environment.
Other updates to school policies and plans of action can be found on the Solon Community School District website (www.solon.k12.ia.us).