When State College Area School District's middle and high school students head back to school next week, they’ll need to turn their phones off or on silent, under new district guidelines aimed at keeping students focused on what’s happening in the classroom, heading off cyber-bullying during the school day and supporting academic integrity.
The district is not banning phones in the high school and middle schools. For middle school students, phones are supposed to be off and in a backpack or locker. At the high school, phones are supposed to be out of sight during class. Cell phone use is not allowed in bathrooms.
State College Area High School principal Laura Tobias said the administration got feedback from student leaders and worked with teachers on the new guidelines. She said students can keep their phones in their backpacks.
"You can have it during the cafeteria time. You can have it during the hallway time transitions, but in instructional spaces — we pride ourselves on academic excellence — we're going to focus on instruction and learning," she said.
Tobias said they’re giving high school teachers flexibility too.
"Let's say you want to use your cell phone for research in your class. Or maybe there's like a moment of time between transitions, and you're saying, 'All right, there's a three-minute break here, if you need to check your cell phone, go ahead.' We're giving teachers that ability in the classroom to set those boundaries," Tobias said.
In July, the state passed legislation allowing districts to use school safety funding to buy lockable smartphone bags. In those schools, students put their phones in the bag each day.
Jonathan Bucher, the State College Area assistant superintendent for secondary schools, said the administrative team decided not to go that route.
"We want to work with our students and to not go that restrictive, and work out ways to use the phone when appropriate, but to not interfere with instructional time, to reduce concerns with social media, which leads into possible discipline concerns," he said.
Bucher said they will be keeping track of incidents that do happen and tweaking the policy as needed.
Tobias said they'll also get feedback from teachers and students.
“There's going to be some students who this is going to be a struggle," she said. "So, how do we teach them and just keep advising them on the appropriate use of a phone."
The district already had guidelines that elementary students are not allowed to use their cell phones in school.
