The School Board wants to get more opinions from teachers, parents and students before making any decisions on whether the district needs stricter cellphone policies.
During Thursday’s meeting, board President Mark Chrislip said he wanted to initiate the conversation after seeing other districts make changes.
The board primarily discussed the cellphone policies at the high school, since the elementary and middle schools don’t allow students to use cellphones during school hours.
Board member Eric Votaw said he thinks cellphones are creating a big distraction for students.
“My phone is a distraction for me, so I know that it is definitely a distraction for students. So, it would be great to limit that somehow,” Votaw said.
However, Votaw said it’s important to not create a policy that would put an extra burden on the teachers.
Board member Zach Brooks asked if teachers are expressing concern about the current policies.
Superintendent Stu Moeckel said he hasn’t heard any concerns.
“Our current policy is based on, I would assume, teacher input at the high school level years ago,” Moeckel said. “I have not had teachers – either through their administration or through me – say, ‘Hey, this is a problem.’”
Board member Joe Hurla said he wants to hear more from teachers about this issue. He also noted that several teachers at the high school use cellphones for educational purposes, which would make it more difficult to place a complete ban.
“I don’t think I would like to see, you know, kids completely unable to have access to their device at any point during the day. I think that could create, I’ll say, safety concerns and things like that,” Hurla said.
Hurla said it would be important to create specific exceptions to the policy.
“There’s a lot of complexities to it, that’s not as simple as just yay or nay,” Hurla said.
Board member Claire Harding said along with teachers, she wants to hear the opinions of students and parents.
“I also wonder if we are going to take this to the senior advisory board to see what students have to say, because students and parents are also stakeholders for all the policies that we make,” Harding said.
Moeckel said although most students are good at putting their phones away when necessary, that isn’t always the case.
“There is a level of addiction for some of our students and that is a problem,” Moeckel said. “A majority of our kids are doing what they’re supposed to, but we do know it’s still a distraction.”
Board member Heather Whalen said implementing stricter rules could have a positive impact, based on the research she’s seen from other school districts.
“In every study I’ve read, the results are overwhelmingly positive,” Whalen said.
In Kansas, the Olathe, Blue Valley and Gardner-Edgerton school districts all have new cellphone policies this school year. The Kansas State Board of Education is also researching recommendations for cellphones in the classroom.
Whalen also said creating new policies would give students more opportunities to build their conversation skills.
“I do think our kids are lacking the ability to conversate kind of because they go straight to their phones,” Whalen said. “I think possibly there might be an opportunity to teach some of those soft skills that we don’t see in students.”
Chrislip encouraged board members to continue doing research on the topic, as well as speaking with parents and teachers to hear their thoughts.
Moeckel said the board will continue discussing these policies over the next couple of months.
In other business, the board discussed the district’s free breakfast program.
The district has seen a major increase in students eating school breakfasts this school year, Moeckel said.
Hurla said he is glad to see students taking advantage of the program.
“I think that the primary driver for doing this is that we want to be able to better serve those that are most in need of this opportunity,” Hurla said.
The district received $17,180 in reimbursement for student breakfasts during September, which is still about $700 short of the total cost. To solve this, Moeckel said he is hoping to lower the average meal cost from $1.35 to $1.30.
Moeckel said this decrease in price shouldn’t be too difficult and wouldn’t change the quality of the breakfast.
Chrislip said he’s heard concerns about the nutritional value and high sugar content of the breakfasts.
“I would just want to make sure that we are not only providing breakfasts, but providing breakfasts with nutritional value. That’s going to help the kids,” Chrislip said.
Moeckel said that is something he thinks is important to investigate.
In other business, enrollment numbers are up this school year.
There are 1,715 students enrolled across the district, not including the 40 EDTEC students.
Moeckel said there has also been a 25 student increase in non-residential enrollment.
“This number is somewhat deceptive, because it also counts our EDTEC kids because our EDTEC kids are considered out-of-district enrollees, even though they’re here for an hour,” Moeckel said.
The board also received updates on district construction and the foundation’s prize patrol.
The next school board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the West Resource Center.
Reach reporter Ryn Drummond at [email protected]
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