A new cellphone policy has been approved for the entire high school after Thursday’s School Board meeting.
The policy was first presented at last month’s board meeting and gave board members time to look over the draft and discuss it. The policy focuses on a bell-to-bell no-phone rule, though students will be allowed to use their phones during passing periods and lunch. Teachers also have the option to allow them for explicitly stated educational use.
Smart watches and headphones will also not be allowed during class time, per the new rules.
The policy will begin next school year.
At the prior meeting, high school Principal Bill DeWitt said the current generation is facing an addiction to phones, and the building wants to help create an environment where teachers can take disruptions away.
The district’s prior policy left it up to teachers to create rules surrounding phones. The new policy applies across the building.
Board member Heather Whalen asked DeWitt if he had received any new feedback since the last meeting.
DeWitt said no, but there has been an increase in notices about cellphone use in classes. He said he sees this policy as taking the burden off students and parents and placing the responsibility on the school to enforce this policy.
DeWitt said 75% of survey respondents said they were in support of at least the bell-to-bell policy.
Board member Joe Hurla said students who had seemed concerned about the policy early on have been more accepting of this being a reasonable compromise.
Hurla said there may be a stricter policy down the road, but at least this is a start to weaning off the devices at minimum, which is positive.
“I appreciate you getting that feedback from staff and that I think this is something that honors their requests and still takes into account what the impact will be on the kids,” he said.
Hurla said other feedback he’s heard is that, for the policy to be effective, it will need consistent enforcement.
Board president Mark Chrislip said he thinks the policy is a good start, but he would like to see a total ban in the future.
With freshmen coming in who are used to having no phone during the day, it will be interesting to see the results, he said.
When students are found to be using a phone in class, they will have them confiscated by the teacher and turned into the office for pickup at the end of the day. For a second offense, parents or guardians will be required to come get the phone from the office.
Superintendent Stu Moeckel said at the previous meeting that this policy echoes those at neighboring schools.
In other business, Principal Seth Heide along with assistant principals Sarah Miller and Jamie Grado gave an update on things at the elementary school.
Miller said the building is working on student engagement by implementing student ambassadors, doing more goal setting and having student growth assemblies for third through fifth graders.
The building will start a new schedule next year that will allow for more time for teaching collaboration with discussions about data. The elementary school has also been doing walkthroughs to give teachers feedback about their classrooms.
In other business, Moeckel shared a draft for possible student fee rate changes for CTE classes. Most of the classes were able to have their fees lowered, he said.
Here are the proposed changes to be approved at a future meeting:
Moeckel also discussed some of the budget conversations started at the last meeting.
Due to the enrollment decrease of about 76 students across the district from 2017 to 2024, the district saw a $424,191 decrease in state aid.
The district has to decide whether to put more into reserves as they are depleted, and also has to weigh the small room there is to move the needle on teacher compensation.
The base salary in the district was $37,250 in 2018 and has increased to $44,540 by 2024.
Average teacher salaries increased from $54,458 in 2017-2018 to $63,179 in 2023-2024, the most recent data provided.
About 75% of the school’s budget goes to paying employees, with the other 25% going to operations and supplies, he said.
It is expected the general fund will see an increase of about $379,000 due to an increase of funding per student, Moeckel said. If it weren’t for that, they’d see a decrease because of lower student enrollment.
A significant portion of new money coming to the district will be going to special education, Moeckel said. The special education assessment increased by $304,000. His presentation also included allocating $50,000 to the capital outlay fund to build up that reserve.
Moeckel’s presentation included using $201,512 in remaining funds for staff compensation.
Conversations about budget ideas will be ongoing into the summer and can change as estimates become clearer.