RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Cell phone use in school could look different next year. Right now, there’s no state law in North Carolina governing cell phone use in school, but lawmakers are looking to change that.
On Tuesday, the General Assembly House Education K-12 Committee approved a bill that would require districts to adopt a policy “which would eliminate or severely restrict student access to cell phones during instructional time.”
One of the bill’s primary sponsors, Rep. Brian Biggs (R-Randolph), believes the bill would help with bullying. He said teachers would have the flexibility to have students take out cell phones if needed.
Rep. Neal Jackson (R-Moore, Randolph) who is also a primary sponsor of the bill said it’s up to districts to decide what the policy looks like.
“If you go to Chatham County, they have the little pouches that the kids put it in the pouch with a magnetic thing that the kids don’t have access [to] all day long,” Jackson said. “But in Moore County, they have access in between classes, so we’re not saying there’s one size fits all.”
The Wake County School Board has been working on its first district-wide cell phone and technology policy.
School Board Member Lynn Edmonds chairs the Policy Committee. She said the district is continuing to get community and staff input on what the policy should look like.
“It’s really not fair for different schools to have different policies, how they handle cell phone use,” Edmonds said. “It’s better if we can have a uniform policy so that if a child is at one elementary school and for whatever reason they moved to another, that the guidelines are still the same, and the same is true for the middle and high school level. It just needs to be more uniform, where right now it’s a little too much of a hodgepodge of different ways of handling cell phones.”
Wake County parent Ola Komolafe does think there should be punishments if a child is on their phone during class, but does not want to see children have to hand in their phones at the start of the day or before a class.
“Shooting in schools or anything that could possibly happen, it’s good for a parent to be able to, you know, get that communication with their child, whereas waiting for the school to communicate with them,” Komolafe said.
CBS 17 asked Edmonds about concerns like that.
“I do understand that feeling and that instinct, but when we’re in, when students are in an emergency, they really need to be focused on the leaders at the school, what the teacher’s instructions are,” Edmonds said.
She said the policy will be implemented next school year.
“So we’re moving rapidly to get this done, and get something approved,” Edmonds said.
The House bill now moves on to a judiciary committee. The State Senate also has a bill; their version includes limiting laptop and tablet use as well. The Senate Education Committee will discuss it Thursday.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel
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