Schools to revisit cellphone use policy

At Hamilton County Schools, cellphone-use policies are currently decided at the school level, but some school board members are looking to change that.

The board’s policy committee met Monday evening to discuss establishing a districtwide cellphone policy.

“When you take a look at all the high schools in the county, all of (their policies) are slightly different,” board member Larry Grohn, R-East Ridge, said.

Grohn said that of all 142 school districts in Tennessee, only four do not have a districtwide cellphone-use policy — Kingsport City, Hamilton County, Maryville City and Williamson County, he said.

Board Attorney Scott Bennett said the current policy, which allows each school to determine its own rules, was created so that teachers could incorporate technology into their lessons.

“We did have a districtwide policy that prohibited personal communication devices, primarily pagers, and the rationale was that it could be used to set up drug deals,” Bennett said. “Now the board got rid of the policy because the board decided that different schools were wanting to move the direction of using these things to integrate into instruction.”

Board member Rhonda Thurman, R-Hixson, agreed with Grohn.

“I think we need to have a districtwide policy,” Thurman said. “I think it ought to be the same across the board.”

Board member Joe Wingate, R-Chattanooga, said that as a former teacher, he’d like to do away with cellphones altogether.

“I would welcome, speaking for myself, but I would welcome cellphones not to be seen or heard,” Wingate said. “You can talk to numerous teachers and administrators who will tell you that cellphones, either directly or indirectly, drive 90% of the undesirable behavior and the issues that we deal with.”

Grohn submitted an example of a cellphone policy drafted by the Tennessee School Boards Association. Superintendent Justin Robertson said it’s a good start.

“You want to have some flexibility for teachers and teachers’ requests or teachers’ guidance in the classroom, but I think this is written in a way that would allow for that,” Robertson said. “But I don’t disagree with you for us to have a districtwide policy to make it clear and concise and then allow a little bit of flexibility.”

Robertson said he would present the draft policy to teachers and administrators Wednesday to get their initial feedback.

While it is unclear when the board will vote on the matter, district officials said they hope to have the policy instated by this fall and allow time for parental input.

“This will be a change for parents, a change for kids, and for schools,” Robertson said.