On March 13, the Carroll County Board of Education discussed the Portable Electronic Devices Policy (commonly known as the school cell phone policy). There were presentations and many discussions (this discussion took him over an hour at the meeting).
The Carroll County School Board Student Representative (Sahithya Sudhakar) provided very good feedback to the School Board on the topic of cell phone use/policy in schools. You can listen to that part of the meeting here.
The full discussion from March 13th can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/89rYKuHH-rs?si=G_tjQyH5Ya8eqWwk&t=4873
Observer's opinion: There were a few things that stood out to me during the presentations and discussions from board members.
- Staff and teachers should set an example when it comes to cell phone use at school (i.e. if you don't want children to use cell phones during class or other times, make sure you do this for all employees as well). (may need to be a rule)
- My favorite part of the discussion – Dr. Dorsey says at the 2:12:20 mark of the video:
- “I was intrigued by the statement about modeling that we want teachers and adults to model the expectations we share with our students. I have a cell phone and I think others have very useful cell phones as well. So, again, with some training and some effort, we too can clean up our stuff. I think you can.”
- Policies and rules may not be clearly defined for students (be sure to listen to what the student representative has to say above)
- The overall tone of Board members' discussions and statements seemed to be moving toward more restrictive policies in the future. I hope this does not become too over-the-top or restrictive for students in their discussions and final decisions.
It appears the board and superintendent will continue to consult (within CCPS and with parents and students) to update the policy for next year, and no action was taken at the end of this discussion.
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