The Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) system is developing a new policy that may force teenagers to part with their cell phones during the school day. This policy comes after years of students spending excessive amounts of time focusing on their phones, rather than their classes.
In its Student Rights and Responsibilities (SR&R) document, FCPS states restrictions on phone use during school hours. These regulations vary based on grade level, and give high school students the most freedom.
“… Teachers may allow usage of cell phones for instructional activities when appropriate. Cell phones may be used on campus before the first bell, after the last bell, during passing periods, and lunches.”
Despite these rules, many students observe varying levels of implementation across their classes. The board wants each FCPS school and classroom to uniformly uphold the policies.
“The problem I have is every educator I talk to feels like enforcing it makes them the bad guy,” School Board Chair Karl Frisch said. He added, “I don’t want anybody to be put in that position so we do need to come up with a method for fidelity execution of this policy.”
This is an issue that the FCPS school board highlighted to FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid. The board required Dr. Reid to address this in a motion:
“…I move that the School Board direct the Superintendent to develop a plan for consideration by the Board, for a 2024-25 school year pilot program within each region for secure cell phone storage to include the potential use of classroom cell phone lockers, magnetic pouches, or other similar devices. Finally, I move that the School Board direct the Superintendent [to] work directly with principals and school-based staff to reiterate the Board’s expectation that the SR&R cell phone policy be consistently enforced at all times.”
The exact plan Dr. Reid will choose is expected to be released this summer.
