Proposal would revise code of conduct
The Garrison School, which spans pre-K through eighth grade, would no longer allow cellphone use by students during the school day under a proposed revision to the district code of conduct.
“Anytime that students have their cellphones, there’s the potential to disrupt the educational process,” said Superintendent Gregory Stowell.
The revision requires that during the school day (8:30 a.m. to 3:14 p.m.), students must store their turned-off or silenced phones in their lockers or an area designated by the teacher.
Before the change can be adopted, the board must hold a public hearing, which is scheduled to take place during its Wednesday (Sept. 4) meeting. The board will vote after the hearing, Stowell said.
At Haldane, school board President Peggy Clements said that the district code of conduct allows principals to set the policy. Students in the elementary and middle schools must keep their cellphones turned off and stored during school hours, she said, while high school students place their phones during class in shoe organizers dubbed “no-cell motels.”
After the high school system was put in place last year, teachers and staff found students “are more engaged in class, there were better discussions and the pedagogical environment benefited,” Clements said.
Garrison began prohibiting the use of cellphones during class last year, but enforcement was uneven, a point discussed at the board’s Aug. 14 meeting. Stowell noted that the code of conduct already provides for discipline for repeated violations of cellphone rules, including banning a student from bringing their phone to school.
Catalina Hussung, 13, a rising eighth grader, said that middle-school students often peek at their phones during class. She called the ban “a good rule” because “we shouldn’t be on our cellphones all day. It could be bad for you.”
“It’s a no-brainer,” said Kaycee Oakes Salmacia, a Garrison parent with a fourth grader at the school. “Why would a child need to be texting or on Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat or TikTok while they’re in class?”
