Smart Devices

Students are playing a key role in tweaking a mobile app that offers 24/7 advice, reassurances, and links to activities or informational videos for teens, and it's relieving some overworked school counselors.

The mobile app seeks to make it easier for transit drivers to complete administrative tasks, keep in touch with management and communicate about schedules. It also aims to help agencies retain drivers amid a shortage.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to conduct a nationwide test to gauge how effective the government’s mass communication can be in the event of an emergency, the agency said in a statement.

A new policy at Central Regional School District requires students in grades 7-12 to store their phones during class and gives officials authority to search the content of the phones under certain circumstances.

Starting next year, Google will begin providing 10 years of automatic software updates for all Chromebooks released in 2021 and beyond, saving schools from having to toss the devices due to baked-in expiration dates.

Through a government program called Community Eligibility Provision, a school district in Indiana is providing student families with access to tablets and a monthly Internet service even during the summer.

Finding that students had become exceptionally reliant on cell phones while locked down during COVID-19, a Massachusetts school district now requires them to store phones in magnetically sealed pouches during the day.

Under a deal with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, approved by the St. Paul City Council in June, police officers have around-the-clock access to a controversial smartphone-hacking device called GrayKey.

Given a massive influx of personal devices in the years since COVID-19, schools are making more use of asset-management systems to keep track of inventory and plan ahead for technology audits.

Students are going to use their cellphones one way or another, and trying to ban them precludes their potential usefulness as PRTs — portable research tools — that can enrich lessons and engage students in novel ways.

As schools across the U.S. consider banning cellphones amid a student mental health crisis, a Michigan district is weighing the need for study and deliberation against the need to make a decision before the new year begins.

Nebraska's second largest school district will not allow students to use phones during class, and it's rolling out digital hall passes in high schools to track missed instructional time and limit out-of-class behavioral issues.

While it has no authority to require governments to act, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization found excessive smartphone use negatively affects student performance and emotional stability.

A New Jersey school district will give an iPad to all K-8 students and teachers for the coming school year, with professional development and one-to-one leadership coaching and support planned throughout the year.

A comprehensive ban on holding phones while driving takes effect Friday across Michigan, meaning actions that were previously allowed in vehicles under state law will now be illegal and potentially bring $100 fines.

In the absence of statewide policies on cellphone use in schools, a recent education panel in Massachusetts said local districts should be taking a hard look at their policies and student mental health.

Both the Erie and Niagara county jails, as well as other counties in the Western New York region, have contracted with companies that specialize in providing free and paid content to inmates.

With student behavior being the top issue of concern among staff, Lincoln Public Schools might install an electronic hall pass system through students' Chromebooks at secondary schools, and vape detectors as well.