South Carolina schools superintendent addresses concerns over cellphone ban during emergencies

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – South Carolina public school students will soon be barred from using their cellphones from the morning tardy bell until the afternoon dismissal bell.

The cellphone ban comes after a General Assembly order in the state’s current budget required every district in the state to adopt such a policy or risk state funding. This week, the State Board of Education approved guidelines for what that policy should include, at a minimum, in every school district.

But there were concerns raised during Tuesday’s board meeting about what that could mean in a crisis, concerns that have been heightened for some following Wednesday’s deadly shooting at a Georgia high school.

“These are Uvalde students and their cellphones that they could use to call their parents and say goodbye. I just want to say that. Just don’t ban them completely,” Brian Petrano, a Lexington parent, told the board.

While a state policy passed by the State Board this week prohibits students from using cellphones from bell to bell, local school districts decide where students keep their phones during the school day — such as turned off and in backpacks, lockers or elsewhere.

Individual districts may also decide to completely ban students from bringing phones and other devices, including tablets, smart watches and game consoles, to school.

“No one has a problem with keeping their phones in their bag during school hours — a complete ban on phone use in school is an option that districts could choose if they chose to do so,” Petrano told board members.

Ellen Weaver, South Carolina’s education director, said that during a crisis, it’s most important for students to focus on an adult who will keep them safe.

“So that they don’t get distracted by digital devices, and once they’re in a safe place, they can take their devices out and contact their parents,” Weaver told reporters Tuesday, before Wednesday’s tragedy in Georgia.

Gov. Henry McMaster, a supporter of the policy, echoed Weaver’s position that the immediate focus should be on following teacher orders until students are safe.

“We hope that would reduce the pandemonium and provide greater safety,” the governor told reporters Thursday. “It also gave the school resource offices, which we now have in almost all schools, the ability to do their job.”

Weaver said it is ultimately the responsibility of school districts, not children, to provide parents with real-time information during emergencies.

“We will continue to work with our districts on this,” she said. “We will continue to learn from other states that are already ahead of us in terms of implementing this policy because we know there are best practices across the country, as well as here in South Carolina, that we can take and share with districts across the state so that our parents don’t have to wonder if their child is safe in an emergency.”

While Weaver addressed the issues before Wednesday’s shooting in Georgia, the South Carolina Department of Education later confirmed it still holds that position, saying the policy applies when schools are operating normally and that in an emergency, priorities shift to focus on safety and communication.

The statewide implementation of the cellphone law is set to begin in January.

However, local counties can start enforcing their own policies sooner.

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