School officials throughout 海角换妻 are seeking ways to more effectively prevent students from focusing too much in-school time on their cellphones at the expense of their educational progress.
This comes after the State Board of Education in August urged school districts to eliminate cellphone use by elementary and middle school students during the school day and severely limit the devices鈥� use by high school students.
Officials at some schools in southeastern 海角换妻 updated policies prior to the new guidelines, while others stood firm with their policies or were already working on updating them when the directive was issued.
One of the school districts that altered its policy before the new guidelines were issued is Stonington. The district partnered with the University of 海角换妻 in a study about the connection between mental health and social media use. As part of the study, middle school students in grades 6-8 are required to keep their phones in Yondr pouches, which are magnetic locking pouches, for the entire school day, according to Daniel Kelley, a member of the Stonington Board of Education.
Kelley said the changes resulted in improved student engagement in the classroom.
鈥淭he amount of engaging that we have now is so much better than it was before,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey used to have them at the cafeterias and they鈥檇 sit there on their phones, text people and not talk to the people at their table. Now, everyone is talking like normal.鈥�
Kelley said the board 鈥渢hought there was going to be more opposition to the pouches鈥� and there hasn鈥檛 been,鈥� and that 鈥渕ost parents I鈥檝e talked to are in favor of it,鈥� as well as teachers and staff.
He also said the board is considering implementing a similar measure at Stonington High School.
鈥淭echnology can be employed in schools to personalize and accelerate learning when integrated thoughtfully and appropriately,鈥� the state board of education wrote in a policy statement on the issue in August. 鈥淗owever, in 2023, the United States Surgeon General issued an Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health, which highlights the concerning relationship between excessive, unrestricted social media use and increased mental health challenges in youth.鈥�
The Lyme-Old Lyme school district also reviewed its policies just before the state directive was issued. Jason Kemp, chairman of the Region 18 Board of Education that oversees Lyme-Old Lyme schools, said the previous policy was 鈥減retty similar to what we have, but the overall policy was outdated.鈥� There were, for example, references to obsolete technologies such as pagers, he said.
Under the district鈥檚 new policy, middle school students can bring cellphones to school, but the devices must remain in their backpacks at all times, except during lunch. High school students have more flexibility under the policy. They are allowed to use their phones in study hall periods, but are not allowed to use them in regular classes.
Kemp said the district has not revisited the policy since the new guidelines were passed as 鈥渢he district was comfortable with where we were.鈥�
鈥淭he policy allows some flexibility with the understanding that it can鈥檛 interfere with education and class, but there鈥檚 some allowance the older [students] get,鈥� he said.
One district that did not make major changes after the new guidelines came out is Norwich. Under the current policy, students can take their cellphones to school, but must turn them off upon arriving at school and must keep them in their backpacks or lockers through the day, according to Mark Kulos, the chairman of the Norwich Board of Education.
Kulos said the district did not make major changes to its guidelines 鈥渂ecause our policies were pretty much in line, or even stricter than what the state guidelines were.鈥� He said the board didn鈥檛 receive much pushback from parents when the policy was implemented.
鈥淲hen we instituted the policy, I think that most parents were in agreement in our community that as long as the kids had the phone as that sort of safety net with them, they felt OK that we were enforcing the idea of no cellphone use during school time,鈥� he said.
Kulos also said he encourages parents who need to contact their students in emergency situations to call the school directly instead of their child鈥檚 cellphones.
While some districts have settled, at least for the time being, on cellphone policies, other districts are still in the process of updating those policies. In New London, for example, the board of education鈥檚 policy committee is working to create an updated cellphone policy. This work began prior to the release of the state guidelines, according to board president Elaine Maynard-Adams.
Maynard-Adams said the committee recently surveyed middle and high school staff, revealing a close split on what direction to go in, though she noted the survey only got a 30% response rate.
鈥淭he feedback that we had gotten as of our last policy meeting, which we didn鈥檛 feel was a representative sampling of the majority of our staff, but it was pretty evenly split as to those staff members who felt that this was not a problem versus others who said this is a problem,鈥� she said.
Maynard-Adams said that the creation of a new policy has been 鈥渁n eye-opening process鈥� to her. She explained she went into the process with the mindset that students don鈥檛 need cellphones in classrooms since students can be reached by calling the school directly.
鈥淎fter hearing from students, I鈥檓 a little more sympathetic to those who feel they have a valid reason for carrying that phone with them,鈥� she said, including students with jobs and students who are responsible for their younger siblings.
Additionally, Maynard-Adams said, 鈥渨e should not only be looking at student use of cellphones, but staff use as well.鈥� She said while she hasn鈥檛 heard of any issues about staff cellphone use, she said she would like to see staff members held to the same standards as students.
鈥淚f we are going to say to a student 鈥榶ou have no reason to be using your phone during the instructional day,鈥� I would be hard-pressed to say, 鈥榖ut it鈥檚 okay for your teachers to be texting friends about Saturday plans,鈥欌�� she said.
Dan Stark is a journalism student at the University of 海角换妻. This story is republished via , a service of the 海角换妻 Student Journalism Collaborative, an organization sponsored by journalism departments at college and university campuses across the state.