Schools update device policies

Will allow laptops, phones

In a bow to changing times, DeSoto County Schools adopted Monday a new policy governing the use of personal electronic devices so that students may use their own laptops, tablets and smartphones on the system’s middle and high school campuses.

The policy, adopted unanimously by school board members, replaces an outdated policy that prohibited use of such devices on school property. Under the new guidelines, students must adhere to rules that limit the types of online content that can be viewed and shared. The system’s network will block inappropriate content as well.

Also Monday, board members adopted the system’s budget for the new school year.

“We didn’t just blindly go into this,” Associate Supt. Keith Williams said

of the new electronics policy, which he presented to board members. “We had a pilot program last year at two high schools, two middle schools and an elementary school to iron out any problems before going systemwide.”

Williams said upgrades to the system’s wireless infrastructure will ensure that high school and middle school campuses will have the capacity to support the increased usage. He estimated that three of every four students on the campuses will use such devices of their own.

Elementary campuses in the 42-school system, Mississippi’s largest, don’t have the necessary infrastructure — part of the reason the policy initially applies only to middle and high school campuses in the coming school year.

Students who do not have personal devices won’t be left out of increased classroom use of electronic media under the policy. Part of the system’s preparation for going to the policy was increasing the number of devices available in classrooms for use by students who don’t supply their own.

Also Monday, board members unanimously and without discussion approved the budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year that started Monday. The budget had been outlined during a public hearing at the previous school board meeting June 17.

The spending plan calls for expenses and revenue that are both an increase from the year just ended, with a shortfall made up by general funds and state contributions. The proposed tax rate remains the same, but teachers get a $750 annual pay raise by moving $1 million of the tax spent on bond debt to operations.