Beacon Schools Ban Phones During Class

District stops short of all-day ban on devices 

The Beacon school board on Monday (Aug. 26) unanimously approved a policy designed to keep cellphone use out of classrooms at Rombout Middle School and Beacon High School. 

It requires the 1,400 students attending the two schools to place their phones in “designated areas” at the beginning of each class but stops short of the full-day ban some parents had requested. Students will have access to their phones between classes and at lunch and recess but not, for example, during bathroom breaks in the middle of class. 

Students at the middle school will also be required to place smartwatches and earbuds in their backpacks while in class, while high school students will have to keep earbuds in their backpacks during class. At the district’s four elementary schools, cellphones, smartwatches and earbuds “should never be out” of a student’s backpack or storage during the day, according to the policy. 

Students who use smartwatches for medical reasons that require them to contact their parents will be accommodated, Superintendent Matt Landahl said. The restrictions go into effect when school begins on Wednesday (Sept. 4). 

The designated spaces for phones will likely resemble the repurposed shoe organizers introduced last year at Haldane High School as “no-cell motels.” Locking cases with slots for each phone are on backorder and could arrive in October, Landahl said. 

Students who do not comply will be referred to an administrator. Consequences will be progressive and include a combination of loss of phone privileges and lunch detentions, Landahl told the board. Parents will also be notified. 

Dozens of Beacon parents organized over the summer and appeared at school board meetings advocating a full-day phone ban using something like the locking pouches made by a company called Yondr. Members of the group said Monday that they had created a form at bcsdphones.com through which students, parents or teachers can anonymously report harassment, filming without consent and other incidents involving phones. 

“Our growing working group will not cease until the entire Beacon City School District achieves a full-day phone ban, as this is the only phone policy that sufficiently protects our children’s well-being,” said one organizer, Hana Ramat, who spoke during the meeting. 

In addition, the board on Monday approved a handful of changes to the district code of conduct, some of them related to phones: 

Using a phone when permitted but in a prohibited way was added as a first-level (out of four) violation of the code, while refusing to put a phone in the designated area during class will be a second-level offense. 

Creating or disseminating profane, harassing or discriminatory images (real or fake) of students or staff was added as a third-level infraction, and removal of phone privileges was added to a list of more than a dozen potential consequences for code violations.

Along with Beacon and Garrison, the Wappingers Central School District over the summer adjusted its cellphone policy, which prohibits high school students from using the devices on campus unless approved by a teacher. Once school begins next week, students who violate the policy must store their phones in locking pouches for the day. 

Such restrictions are part of a nationwide trend to limit classroom distractions and protect students from the dangerous impacts of social media while encouraging face-to-face interaction with peers.

In California, the Los Angeles school board voted in June to restrict students in the country’s second-largest district from using smartphones during the academic day. New York City schools are expected to implement a similar policy, but Mayor Eric Adams said this week that the district is “not there yet” logistically.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has indicated that a statewide policy could be coming. She began a “listening tour” on phone usage in schools last month in Albany County and has held roundtable discussions in Erie County, Long Island and Yonkers. 

In Beacon, most teachers at Rombout and the high school want a cellphone-free classroom, Landahl said during the school board’s Aug. 19 meeting. The district plans to review compliance data monthly and create focus groups of teachers and students. It will adjust the policy if necessary, he said. 

Because the district did not implement a full-day ban, Landahl said teachers will be responsible for enforcing the classroom restrictions. The difference between Beacon’s schools and others in the region that utilize all-day locking pouches is that students at other schools must walk through a metal detector and undergo a bag search as they enter the building, so putting a phone in a pouch is “just a part of entering school,” he said. 

With most conflicts involving students and social media occurring at night or when school is not in session, Landahl said the district will hold educational sessions for students and parents on Sept. 23 and 24 with Richard Guerry, the founder of the Institute for Responsible Online and Cellphone Communication. He will speak about safe digital communication, online empathy, safe gaming and dealing with cyber cruelty. More dates may be added.