Director of schools explains cell phone usage policies, penalties

Cell phones in Tennessee’s schools have been a topic of interest for legislators for years, and this year new legislation passed to crack down on usage in the classroom.

HB932/SB897 targets cell phone usage during school hours, and it provides guidelines and rules for school districts across the state to create policies reflecting the new legislation.

The law specifies that any “wireless communication device” such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, or gaming devices are subject to the new policies that school boards must take. The policies must prohibit student usage of the device except during a few specific exceptions. A lot of the law followed from changes to policies that various school boards across the state were already attempting to adopt.

During a board meeting in July, White County School Board addressed the new legislation and their own policy. Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger believed the school board’s policy last year already covered the changes to legislation. He also made it clear they have not made any initiative to try and remove the phone from student possession like other school boards in the state have entertained.

“What is going to be imperative, so I’ve told the principals, is that we explicitly explain to our students and families that this is a state law,” Dronebarger said. “This is not just a strong suggestion from White County Schools, and so there is not any wiggle room.”

For elementary students, the phone is allowed to be in their backpack, but they are not allowed to be on the device at all other than emergency purposes. For high school and middle school, Dronebarger believes there is a bit more room for discretion.

“The high school’s procedure, many of their students use them during class, so I can see many math teachers using them as calculators, and many other folks for research purposes,” Dronebarger said. “I know Warrior Media uses them extensively to film and video, but that’s permissible. But what we have instructed our teachers to do is have a protocol for usage in their classroom that is approved by their principal, and then if they are in violation of that, then they are subject to punishment that has been set forth.”

Dronebarger believes that with the new law, there will be a learning curve for schools in the county. The offense for usage of a phone is in the handbook for students, which includes three major steps of offenses. The first offense, the student must get their phone from the office after it has been temporarily taken away. The second offense, a parent will have to come get the phone instead. On a third offense or more, in-school suspension, or ISS, will begin to enter the discussion.

Director Dronebarger also clarified for the school board that students are allowed to have their phone out during break time, as the law specifies no usage “during instruction time.”