TEMPLE, Texas — Across the nation cell phone bans are becoming more common in the classroom and Central Texas school districts have implemented their own restrictions from lockers to phone pouches.
More and more districts in the Central Texas area are saying no to cell phones in the classroom. Monday night the Belton ISD Board of Trustees voted to revise their cell phone guidelines.
"Our goal is not to confiscate phones or take up phones," Mike Morgan, Belton ISD Deputy Superintendent, said. "Our goal is for students to use appropriate use of cell phones to do it in a responsible manner."
This comes after a survey to parents and teachers.
"In both cases, around 70% or so were concerned about the impact of cell phones as a classroom disruption," Morgan added.
For Belton ISD students, phones must be out of sight and not in use in the classroom. If that rule is violated multiple times, students may have to surrender their phone at the start of the day.
Other districts like Temple ISD and Killeen ISD have already taken bold initiatives with cell phones during school.
Temple ISD students have to put their phones in a locker at the beginning of class and the device is locked until the end of class. Their team has already seen significant changes so far.
"We had the data pooled last year, October 25th to this year October 25th," Dr. Bobby Ott, Temple ISD Superintendent, said. "We've seen a decrease in student discipline referrals of over 1,000 that's not incremental, that's substantial. Our attendance rate has increased by 1.5% from last year to this year at this time. That is substantial when you're talking 2,300 students. Our failure rate has decreased substantially from last year to this year."
There's also been support from students.
"I had a student today tell me, 'Hey, I know the cell phone policy was difficult, but you know what? We don't see cyber bullying.' You can't cyberbully if you don't have your device," Dr. Ott said.
In Killeen, their Board of Trustees voted to have a completely cell phone free school year, and they are seeing positive results. The district noticed these findings after the change:
- More students are eating lunch
- Cafeterias are noisier (because students are talking to each other)
- Teachers are noticing increased student engagement in classrooms and less distractions
Districts across Central Texas give thanks to parents, teachers and students for coming together in the midst of new changes.
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