More attentive classrooms and fewer disciplinary actions are among the benefits of more restrictive cellphone policies. That’s what representatives from three district schools reported to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education during a work session Monday.
The work session follows another in early November where the board directed its policy committee to create new language that would prohibit use of any personal devices by all students at any time of the day. Existing policy says devices shouldn’t be used during classroom instruction or other district-supervised activities.
At that previous meeting, board members said cellphones are causing distractions in district classrooms and a more restrictive policy would take responsibility of enforcement from teachers. They also considered the use of Yondr bags, magnetic pouches that could contain phones in an unusable state but still in possession of students — though they didn’t decide whether or not to pursue them further.
Skyview Middle School, Nikiski Middle/High School and Homer High School spoke Monday about their experiences after restricting students’ use of phones.
At Skyview, this school year is the first where cellphones are prohibited throughout the school day — last year they could be used during lunch.
Skyview Principal Shonia Werner said the change was one she supported from her first year as an administrator, when she became the assistant principal and saw students texting and using their cameras in classrooms with frustrated teachers.
“We knew we needed to make a change,” she said. “It was unanimous. We did a survey. There was not one teacher in our school who wanted to continue allowing cellphones in the classroom.”
The only parent concern heard this year — now years into cellphone restrictions and a semester into full prohibition of phones during the school day — was that their student requires use of their phone as medical device, Werner said. That’s “totally appropriate.”
At Skyview, students are instructed to keep their phones in their lockers. Werner said they keep a log of infractions — only six students have had more than one report of using their cellphone in violation of the school’s policy this year.
Nikiski Middle/High Principal Michael Crain described a similar situation. He said staff recognized distractions in their classroom and decided to take action.
Nikiski middle schoolers aren’t allowed to use their phones in school at all, Crain said. High schoolers can use them during passing periods and at lunch. That difference is to teach students when it is appropriate to use their phones.
High schoolers can leave their phones in a box as they enter their classroom, where they remain for the duration of the period.
Homer High Principal Doug Waclawski told the same story. Teachers said phones are an issue and that something needs to be done. Waclawski said he could enter any classroom and see a handful of students using their phones.
Even a cellphone that’s stowed away in a pocket and left unused, Waclawski said, is a distraction.
“If your phone buzzed, right now, that’s all you’re going to be thinking about for a long period of time,” he said. “You cannot concentrate on what you’re supposed to be doing.”
Waclawski said students are getting dozens of those notices in any class period.
At Homer High, he said, students can’t have their phones with them during class, but can use them during passing periods or at lunch, like Nikiski’s policy. The best implementation, he said, requires leaving phones at the classroom door.
Though cellphones are barred from the classroom, Werner said, parents can still contact their children.
“We have a phone in every classroom and we have several phones in the office,” she said. “Anytime anyone needs to get ahold of them, they can do so.”
Werner and Crain both pointed to a decrease in the number of reported behavior offenses, year over year after restricting the use of cellphones, though neither offered explanations why the statistic might correlate directly to the policy change.
Werner also said that Skyview this year has seen a significant jump year over year in the number of students recognized for having no failing grades and no reported behavior offenses.
Joel Burns, a Skyview teacher, said that policing phones in the classroom was “whack-a-mole.” They created “a headache” and they introduced negative interactions to his class. Now, with phones removed, he said he’s seeing students socializing at lunch, burning off energy in the gym. He called it “a positive change with very little pushback.”
Dylan Hooper, a Nikiski teacher, said that without phones students aren’t being distracted as often. Like Waclawski, Hooper said that every notification becomes a distraction for students.
Both Burns and Hooper said that the change is strong because it’s applied across the board. Phones aren’t acceptable in some classes while barred from others and no teacher is left individually responsible for telling a student they can’t use a phone.
Steven Debardelaben, a Skyview eighth grader, echoed Burns’ sentiment about more engaged lunch periods. He said students used to play games on their phones or check social media during lunch periods; now they’re talking in the lunchroom or playing in the gym.
“I really believe that middle school is a better place without cellphones during the day,” he said.
Shania Weathers, a Nikiski high schooler, said she thinks cellphones should be allowed in school, with “strict limitations on when and how they are used.” She said that Nikiski’s policy leaves space to use their phones when acceptable, while also shoring up the authority of teachers to eliminate distractions in their classrooms.
“Our biggest goal is to not eliminate cellphones, but to teach students how to use them appropriately,” she said.
Some of the people who spoke to the board Monday said that there are circumstances when their might be use for cellphones as tools in the classroom. Burns said that he’s doing a science lab this week where students can use their phone cameras to create slow-motion videos.
Janelle Grenier, a student success liaison at Nikiski, said there is space for “responsible use.” She said many of her students require some use of their phones to complete two-factor authentication to get into their University of Alaska systems, among other valid uses.
Board Vice President Jason Tauriainen suggested a possible system where teachers could request permission for phone use in their classrooms with their administrator. Leaving it up to teacher discretion, he said, is “sort of what’s in policy now.”
Hooper and Crain said that they support high schoolers being able to use phones during lunch periods. Crain said that teaches students when it’s appropriate to use their phone outside of classroom periods, and Hooper said that students are already picking up adult skills — communicating with employers and making appointments.
The school board took no action during the Monday work session. A proposed revision to district cellphone policy will be considered at a future meeting.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.