To Ban or Embrace?
Students arrived back to school last week. Part of our routine at the start of a new school year is to conduct class meetings with each grade level. One of the main topics we covered with each class was the change in our Cell Phone/Electronic Devices Policy. After researching the topic and having many discussions with teachers and administrators from our school and from others, we decided this year to allow students to use their cell phones during the school day.
Prior to this year, student's cell phones were to be off and out of sight from the start of school until the end of school. This year we are allowing students to use their cell phones during the 4-minute pass time between classes and in the cafeteria during their lunch period.
As an administrative team we feel that cell phones are here to stay and will only become more pervasive. We see it as our responsibility to teach students how to use cell phones and other mobile handheld technologies appropriately in an educational setting. By the time students reach high school they are young adults and we need to prepare them for college. We see a gradual lifting of restrictions on the use of cell phones in school as a prudent path to follow. By embarking on this course of action our students and staff will be incrementally prepared for the day when all students use a ubiquitous mobile learning device throughout the school day.
A day after we announced the change in policy to the students I came across an article titled "Mobile Devices Seen as Key to 21st-Century Learning" in Edweek Magazine. The article references a report titled "Pockets of Potential: Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children's Learning". The report recommends that school administrators begin to ease restrictions on the use of cell phones in school. Basically the report validated the approach we had decided upon.
What I found interesting was the reaction of the students. We told each grade level about the change in policy while they were in their class meeting with their entire class. The junior and senior classes said nothing when we told them. To them it seemed like no big deal. The sophomores cheered when we told them. The freshman class meeting was at night wrapped in with their orientation. Their parents were at the meeting as well. When we told the freshman they cheered loudly. I was surprised by their level of reaction.
Today at the PTSO meeting with the parents we told them about our new cell phone policy. They were very supportive and agreed that it was a measured step in the right direction.
