The use of mobile phones and other devices has been banned in high school

Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School’s committee voted 5-3 in favor of a new policy of locking up students’ cellphones and other personal devices during school hours.

“All day trip” policy will give each student a bag to store their electronics during the school day. Cell phones, previously collected before classes, will now be locked in the bag. Earphones, headphones and smartwatches are to be locked, as are other personal devices.

The policy involves providing every student at school with a Chromebook and is the result of a state grant aimed at reducing student distraction, numerous public forums and a school task force.

This regulation was passed three weeks before the start of the school year.

School staff They strongly support Chromebook for every student. All 66 teachers the school surveyed supported the policy.

Principal Sara Dingledy anticipates students will be disappointed at first, but says she looks forward to creating a richer learning environment.

“I think we anticipate that this will feel like a huge disruption to students,” she told The Times. “We think it’s the right thing to do for students and it’s good for the school and it’s good for the work that we do in terms of teaching prosocial behavior and keeping students’ education at the forefront… we know that if you persevere, the results will be really positive.”

The policy states that the desired outcomes of learning in a phone- and social media-free environment include reduced distraction, increased social interaction, mental health benefits and improved academic performance.

“Research suggests that limiting phone use is a response to the current trend of social exclusion among teenagers, as it encourages students to interact more with their peers in the hallways, in the cafeteria and during their free time,” the policy reads.

The high school joins a number of schools across the country that are strictly regulating phone use. The New York Times reported this month that eight states have passed laws or regulations this year restricting student phone use at school.

Before making changes to the student handbook, the MVRHS school committee debated new updates to the proposal, how best to communicate the policy’s penalties to students and whether its principles were well-defined.

The policy also outlines levels of punishment for repeat offenses. The school will confiscate the phone after the first unauthorized use, and the student’s parent or guardian will be notified.

On a second phone offense, the device is confiscated and only the student’s parent or guardian can pick it up at school. The student will also have to serve a detention order and sign a behavioral contract agreeing to abide by it.

Third and subsequent violations will result in the previous penalty of parental removal, as well as in-school suspension and possible loss of extracurricular activities. The student and parents must also attend a conference with teachers and school administrators at this time.

The “disposable phones” listed in the regulations – which Mr Dingledy told The Times refer to non-functional or fake phones designed to trick the system – will be permanently confiscated. Realistic-looking prop phones of many models are widely available online.

Dingledy said at Monday’s committee meeting that students can take their phones out of the building during student hours and that the school will not search bags or install additional metal detectors.

Voting against the policy were committee members Mike Watts, Skipper Manter and Kathryn Shertzer.

At the meeting, Watts criticized the use of the word “may” in the proposed handbook changes, saying it conveyed a troubling lack of certainty. The rules read: “A student may be suspended from school for persistent failure to follow the rules.”

He also asked for more specific wording on how the school will determine punishments, including in the case of students affected by other types of offenses.

“(A child) who had one vaping incident and three headphone issues, should we take away his ability to play football?” he made it clear.

Principal Dingledy defended the use of the word “may” in the policy, saying the policy is not intended to be a punitive environment. She also noted that the student handbook calls for hearings and discretion before disciplining students.

“We are not judge and jury,” she said of Watt’s concerns. “Putting a ‘will’ in there is like having a zero-tolerance (policy), and there is no conversation, no remediation, no wiggle room.”

“If there is a belief that it is only about consequences, it would be a shame,” she added.

Watts also asked what exemptions would be provided for students who track their health on a personal device. Dingledy said the school would work to make exceptions. The frequently asked questions document, which she shared with the committee after the vote, also states that students with medical conditions that require them to use a phone would be able to do so under their 504 plans, which support students with disabilities.

Committee member Kelly Scott asked the school to provide the committee with information at the end of the school year on how it will discipline violators.

Dingledy, speaking to The Times, explained the history of the new policy, which began with an $18,000 grant from the state to reduce distractions from technology among students. She added that the school has held two open forums for parents and community members and has created a technology team to address the policy in the first half of 2023.

Eighth-grade students were notified of the upcoming policy this spring. One concern students had, Dingledy recalled, was that students wouldn’t have their phones at lunch. “The typical things we heard was that if you don’t have anyone to sit with at lunch, a phone is a good outlet,” she said. To promote socialization at lunch, Dingledy said the school will hold lunch with more students together and encourage other social and athletic activities.

The school’s chief information technology (IT) officer also strongly supported the Chromebook policy. IT Director Rick Mello told the committee in April that the policy would save class time by eliminating all non-Chromebook-related IT issues he had to resolve.

The student will be required to replace the Yondr device case if it is lost. The first replacement will cost $15. Subsequent replacements will cost $30 each, which is the approximate cost of the case as per the policy.