The Anchorage School Board on Tuesday unanimously passed an update to the Anchorage School District’s cellphone policy for the first time in over a decade.
The policy prohibits use of "portable electronic devices" for the entire school day for elementary and middle school students and allows high schoolers to use their phones during passing periods and lunch only.
Nationwide, many districts are moving to limit cellphone use by students, citing the negative impacts to student learning and mental health. Principals at Wendler Middle School, South High School and a growing number of other schools around the state independently banned phones in class over the last several years, reporting a noticeable decrease in behavior issues.
School board member Margo Bellamy noted that part of the policy’s updated language came from students.
“I did have the opportunity last week to meet with a group of students over at Wendler and we had a conversation about the cellphones, and all of them agreed we needed to have a cellphone policy,” Bellamy said.
There are three separate bills moving through the Alaska Legislature that would prohibit student cellphone use in school, House Bills 57 and 69 and Senate Bill 18. The Alaska Board of Education and Early Development released a draft statewide cellphone policy in January which also limits use to before and after school. The board is set to vote on that policy on March 10. The draft policy recommends, but does not require, school districts to adopt the restrictions.
The only difference between the policy passed by the school board and the three bills is that ASD’s policy would allow for some cellphone use by high school students during lunch and passing periods.
In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, several schools also introduced cellphone restrictions this school year, opting to purchase Yondr magnetic pouches to store the phones during class.
The new policy lists smart watches and earbuds among the portable electronic devices banned from the classroom. It also makes exceptions for disabled and developmentally challenged students, as well as students whose first language is not English. Individual school principals can make the policy more restrictive.
Board member Carl Jacobs noted that other states provide grant funding for districts to purchase magnetic pouches to store students' cellphones during the day. Jacobs said he does not assume state funding will be made available to buy the pouches. Lessens estimated the cost at over $500,000.
“In an era where we see folks preaching for targeted funding for interventions that we know work, this seemed to be a natural fit,” Jacobs said. “Yet, when I’ve had conversations with folks in Juneau, there’s been little to no interest in providing this very targeted intervention that would potentially take some of the pressure off of our educators.”
The board’s previous policy language prohibited using cellphones to cheat in class or bully other students, but had not been updated since 2012 when the iPhone 5 was brand new. Later this year, Apple will release the 17th version of the iPhone.
Board members said if any of the more prohibitive bills becomes law, they would vote to realign their policy with the new state standards.
