Well, students could be out of luck.
The initial draft of Wake County’s new student cellphone policy says the district will not be responsible for the theft, loss or damage of devices brought to school.
But Tuesday, school board members debated whether to add language saying the district will accept responsibility if a confiscated phone is lost or damaged due to staff negligence.
“Definitely we want to protect staff from any liability that could accrue to them for following a policy and doing as directed by the district,” said school board chair Chris Heagarty.
No final decision was made Tuesday on the liability issue. Revisions to the new policy will be presented to the school board’s policy committee meeting next week.
The board is hoping to approve a cellphone policy in May. It would go into effect in the 2025-26 school year.
Wake’s efforts come as the state Senate and House have both passed their own bills that would require schools to adopt policies restricting phone use in class.
WAKE DEVELOPING NEW CELLPHONE POLICY
The Wake policy under consideration requires students not to display their phones in school and to have them turned off, silenced or in airplane mode. High schools would have the option of letting students use their phone when they’re not in class, such as during lunch and in hallways during class changes.
The policy says phones could only be used in class if the teacher allows them for instructional use, if a student has a medical or educational need, or if there is a sudden emergency.
Teachers could confiscate phones if students violate the policy.
Among the questions the board discussed Tuesday were:
- Who should decide in an emergency that students can use their phones?
- Should the district or individual schools set rules on when to return confiscated phones?
- Should schools have any liability if a student’s phone is damaged or lost?
- Should phones be off or in silent mode?
WHO'S LIABLE IF PHONE IS DAMAGED AT SCHOOL?
With smartphones costing hundreds of dollars and more than a $1,000 in some cases, the question of liability is a real one for families.
On Tuesday, the board reviewed two options for the policy.
Option A says the district accepts no liability for theft, lost or damaged phones.
Under Option B, Wake would take limited liability and accept responsibility if a phone is lost or damaged “due to the actionable negligence of school staff while in the staff’s possession.”
Heagarty, who is an attorney, questioned whether Wake has the ability to waive all liability. Staff said they’d get additional legal advice before next week’s policy committee meeting.
HOW LONG SHOULD PHONES BE CONFISCATED?
In a related question to the liability issue, Wake is fleshing out how schools would handle the confiscation of phones.
Under Option A, the district would set guidelines for all schools saying confiscated phones should in general be returned at the end of the class period, school event or activity.
But Option A says phones may be confiscated until the end of the school day “if the improper use is willful, repeated, substantially disruptive, or interferes with other students’ ability to focus on instruction or extracurricular programming.”
The school may require a parent or guardian to pick up the phone for their child. This would happen if there’s been a pattern of violations during the school year and the school has warned in writing that further violations may result in the phone being held for pick-up by the parent or guardian.
In Option B, each school would develop its own written rules on confiscation of phones. The rules would address repeat violations and when parents/guardians would have to pick up the phone at school.
Board members said they preferred Option A to have consistent rules on confiscation.
“Sometimes the district in the situation has to be the bad guy,” said board member Lindsay Mahaffey.
WHAT'S AN EMERGENCY SITUATION?
The draft policy says students can use their phones “to communicate with parents/guardians or emergency service personnel in the event of a sudden emergency.”
The two options discussed Tuesday would attempt to define what is considered an emergency situation.
Under Option A, an emergency is defined as a situation involving imminent physical danger that requires immediate communication. This would essentially allow students to use their own judgment to take out their phones.
Under Option B, students would need permission from school staff, such as their teachers, to use their phone during an emergency. Staff would decide whether there’s a reasonable and legitimate need for students to communicate with someone outside the school during the instructional day.
Board members said they leaned toward using Option B to give schools more flexibility.
PHONES POWERED OFF OR SILENT MODE IN CLASS?
Another question is whether phones should be shut off or put on “silenced” in class.
Under Option A, phones would be powered off. The location services settings would be off.
Under Option B, phones would be on silent mode. This would allow devices such as Bluetooth headphones and earbuds, smartwatches and smartglasses to be connected to the phones and remain active.
Bluetooth file sharing, such as AirDrop, would still be active. Students would still receive notifications on their phones through buzzing or vibrating.
Board members said they’d prefer Option B because it would be easier to enforce than Option A.
“We’re not checking 100,000 cellphones every day to ensure they’re off,” said board member Sam Hershey. “That would be a ridiculous waste of time.”
The Senate’s cellphone bill requires phones to be off. The House version isn’t as specific.
The Senate included the cellphone bill in the budget adopted last week. Heagarty, who is also a former state lawmaker, said that could be a sign the Senate is willing to fight to keep that language about phones being off.
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