[Update, 8/15/24:]
The Virginia Department of Education today released its draft "guidance" to school systems on phone use, with a final recommendation slated for adoption in mid-September for implementation by the end of the year. CLICK HERE to see the proposal.
[Original coverage, 6/25/24:]
Arlington school officials are gearing up to develop and implement a systemwide policy that likely will reduce or eliminate the ability of students to use their personal phones or electronic devices during the school day.
“We need to address this issue,” School Board member Bethany Sutton said at the June 20 board meeting, where several public-comment speakers spoke of the need to get kids’ minds focused on learning, not buried in their electronic devices.
But those who want a blanket policy in place by the start of the 2024-25 school year in August likely will come away empty-handed; Sutton said that to get any proposal right and gather feedback before approval, it likely couldn’t be in place until the start of 2025.
“We take this work seriously – we are moving forward,” she said, suggesting that individual principals should be thinking now about how to address the interim period when a policy is on the horizon but not yet adopted.
Arlington appears a little behind the curve on the matter. A number of school systems, including neighboring Fairfax County, have moved faster to address the issue of phone use.
There likely could be pushback to any proposed major restrictions, perhaps not so much from students as from parents who want their children to have access to communication devices during the school day.
For those who wish to be heard, “there will be a public-comment period,” Sutton said. (No other School Board members spoke on the subject at the meeting.)
Arlington Public Schools does have policies in place heavily restricting availability of phones during the school day at middle schools. At Wakefield High School, a somewhat less draconian policy has been tried out as a pilot program. “Mixed success” is how Sutton described efforts to date on a school-by-school basis.
