The Johnston County school board approved a new wireless communication devices policy this week that prohibits both students and teachers from using their cellphones in class. School leaders said they needed to put phone limits on teachers to make sure they’re focused on working with their students in class.
“If we’re going to talk about teachers as professionals, then we have to understand we don’t talk on our phone when we’re teaching class,” Terry Tippett, the board’s vice chair and a former teacher, said before Tuesday’s vote. “That’s just a fact.”
The policy was approved on a 5-2 vote with board members Kay Carroll and April Lee voting no. The board was lobbied by several teachers who unsuccessfully urged the policy be revised to only cover students.
“I want to listen to the teachers,” Carroll said. “It did read to me, like, ‘Well, wait a minute we’re just treating them like children.’ Let’s don’t do that. Let’s take the staff out.”
SOME NC DISTRICTS ONLY APPLY PHONE POLICY TO STUDENTS
Johnston County’s new policy requires students to power off their phones and not use them from first bell to last bell each day. There are exceptions, such as allowing their use for medical exemptions, during emergencies and during lunch in high schools.
But what makes Johnston County’s policy unique is that it also applies to staff and says they can only use their phones “for emergency response purposes and when not responsible for supervising or instructing students.” In contrast, Wake County’s recently adopted cellphone policy only covers students.
An earlier draft of Johnston’s new policy was even more stringent. It would have barred elementary school teachers from using their phones at all during school.
“There’s nothing saying that teachers can’t have their phones in this policy,” said board member Kevin Donovan. “But we want to make sure that when it’s time for teaching, they’re in the classroom teaching.”
PARENTS COULD 'WEAPONIZE' POLICY AGAINST TEACHERS
The policy drew backlash from teachers who said they need to use their phones in class for professional and personal reasons.
Jen Medlin, a district teacher, told the board on Tuesday that many teachers feel that including staff in the policy “does not reflect the professionalism with which we deserve to be treated.” Medlin called the restrictions on staff phone use stringent, oppressive and problematic.
Medlin cited how teachers use apps on their phones for things such as communicating with parents, sending texts to colleagues about information on students and asking for someone to cover their rooms during bathroom breaks. On a personal level, Medlin said some teachers check their phones when they get messages about their children or from relatives.
“Principals at individual sites can be trusted to handle instances of staff members abusing phone use and teachers should be given the autonomy and trust to show appropriate discretion regarding personal phone use in their classrooms,” Medlin said.
“There is a teacher recruitment and retention crisis in this state as a result of meager pay and never-ending instructional duties, and this policy could be another factor in teachers leaving the county or profession.”
Some parents will “weaponize” the policy to have their children report when a teacher is using a phone in class, according to Lee, the board member. Lee is the former president of the Johnston County Association of Educators and teaches in a neighboring district because she’s on the school board.
“I should not have to justify it to a classroom full of my kids why I’m having to pick up my phone,” Lee said. “I’m the adult in the room and if I have a bunch of 12-year-olds looking at me and reporting back home to mom or dad, ‘My teacher picked up her phone today.’”
ARE TEACHERS MISUING THEIR PHONES IN CLASSROOMS?
It was not immediately clear how many teachers might be misusing their phones. But some board members said the district needs to take some action to address the issue.
“I’ve pointed out, especially in high schools, you’ve got students glued to their phones,” said Donovan, the board member. “You’ve got staff also glued to their phones, and the response has been (from principals) we need a policy with some teeth so we can hold teachers accountable.
“Until then, we have autonomy with teachers and they pretty much do what they want.”
Board member Michelle Antoine said she hears stories from her children about how a teacher is using their phone all day. But Antoine said that’s not the purpose of the policy.
“I’m not accusing any teacher of using their phone in some nefarious way that isn’t education-related,” Antoine said. “But I want them solely focused so they can be highly successful in that classroom for the students.
“So the perception of this isn’t to snitch out a teacher or to punish a teacher, but it’s to realign our behaviors.”
But Lee said the policy language is not needed because there are existing processes for principals to address if a teacher is misusing their phone.
“If somebody’s not performing their duties because they’re too busy buying something on Amazon, or on social media, or whatever it is they’re doing, that is a supervision issue by their principal bottom line,” Lee said. “Let’s not punish everybody for the few.”
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