The Virginia Department of Education released its final guidance on cellphone-free schools Tuesday. The draft guidance, issued Aug. 15, was made public for review and feedback through Sept. 15.
In a press release, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said VDOE received feedback from Virginians at events and meetings with stakeholders, as well as nearly 6,000 online comments.
He said the comments echoed the need for “bell-to-bell” cellphone-free education to help teachers and students focus on learning. He added that families were eager for students to avoid the drama that sometimes develops when they use social media during class time.
The feedback also included some concerns, especially around medical needs; some students use phone-based apps for health monitoring. Youngkin said VDOE partnered with school nurses, pediatricians and the Virginia Department of Health to include medical exemptions in the guidance.
Students wrote in asking to use their phones during lunch hours. But the final guidance denied that request. It points to research showing students receive more than 200 phone notifications a day and two-thirds of U.S. students report being distracted by using the devices. The guidance stresses that students should have face-to-face conversations and “develop critical in-person communication skills during unstructured school hours.”
There’s a section in the guidance dedicated to concerns some parents had about being able to contact their children in emergency situations. It largely leaves up to individual schools the responsibility to create specific protocols for cellphone use during family and school emergencies — but offers guidelines for both.
The document says family-based emergencies should be communicated directly with the front office of a child’s school, while each school must develop procedures for notifying families during school-based emergency situations.
“This guidance from the Virginia Department of Education is an important step towards creating a healthier learning environment where students can receive a quality education free from harmful distractions,” Youngkin said in the Tuesday press release. “I appreciate the substantive engagement from parents, teachers, administrators and our students and we will continue to engage in these discussions with parents and students on how Virginia can continue to improve these policies and keep the Commonwealth’s education system best-in-class. Together, we’re creating a healthier, safer and more focused learning environment for our children.”
Just over a month after Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order directing state officials to create "guidelines on the establishment of cellphone-free education policies and procedures," the Virginia Department of Education issued a public draft.
As Youngkin stated in the order, “Parents, public health professionals, educators, and other stakeholders across the Commonwealth are expressing concern over the alarming mental health crisis and chronic health conditions affecting adolescents, such as depression and anxiety, driven in part by extensive social media usage and widespread cellphone possession among children. cellphone-free education will significantly reduce the amount of time students can be on phones without parental supervision.”
The seven-page VDOE document, “Draft Guidance for cellphone-Free Education Pursuant to Executive Order 33,” appeared to be the agency’s seventh draft. It acknowledged that students at varying stages of education use technology differently, and it sets up rules for the elementary, middle and high school levels.
What are the general restrictions?
The final guidance, like the draft, covers essentially all internet- or network-accessible personal electronic devices a student could or would feasibly bring to school: cellphones (smart or otherwise), smartwatches, personal headphones, laptops, tablets and a futureproof-y "other future personal electronic communication devices with the abovementioned characteristics."
VDOE defines the primary no-devices time as “bell-to-bell” — from the first class bell through dismissal, including lunch and between class periods or blocks. The state agency leaves all non-instructional time before and after school to the individual districts’ discretion, but states that every public school system “must establish clear procedures for off-site events or activities.”
That non-exhaustive list includes bus transit, field trips, school-sponsored off-campus events and school-related athletics.
The guidance also encourages parents and guardians to use “school-based communication tools and channels” to communicate with their students regardless of age in both non-emergency and emergency situations.
There are also sweeping recommendations, but not rules, for school districts to consider when facilitating communication and enforcing these policies:
- “Adults in the school should lead by example and have clear boundaries around their own use of cellphones for emergency or crisis communication purposes only.”
- “a direct live-family line that operates during school hours for family-based emergencies to ensure a family can reach an adult quickly”
- “share their family-based emergency school plan procedures at opening school meetings, new student orientation and posted on the website. … include non-emergency family protocols for changes in schedules, pick up/drop off, or forgotten items that need to be delivered to the school.”
- “a dedicated monitored email to which families could correspond with the school where all non-emergency, but timely, updates are shared that are monitored by staff throughout the day”
K–5 restrictions
Elementary school students, according to the final guidance, can’t use a cellphone on school grounds unless “a parent decides that an elementary student should bring a cellphone or personal electronic communication device to school.”
Even then, devices must be powered off and stored in a backpack, locker, locked pouch or "designated place in the classroom" — not the student's pocket or on their person.
Middle school restrictions
Grades 6-8 have similar rules to the elementary level. Students can bring devices to school, but they must be turned off and stored during the school day. In addition, when communicating electronically with educators, co-curricular and extracurricular sponsors (including athletics) during school hours, they can only use a “non-social media based app.”
Starting in middle school, schools are encouraged to provide "developmentally appropriate guidance" for school-issued devices, apps used in instruction and other educational tools.
High school restrictions
By high school, students are permitted on-campus use of their cellphones and devices before or after the bell-to-bell school day.
All other restrictions apply.
What are the exemptions?
Students with 504 plans, IEPs (individualized education plans) and/or individualized health care plans can have cellphone or personal electronic communication device usage added. Those additions would need to be codified by one of three people: a school’s nurse coordinator, a director of student services or a superintendent’s designee.
There is a secondary carve-out for students with disabilities or English-language learners “with a documented language barrier” who require technology to learn. However, it is more of a call to have districts incorporate and acquire school-based assistive technology for those students, rather than issue them blanket permission to use personal electronic devices.
School divisions and local school boards are expected to review and revise their policies to adhere with the guidance no later than Jan. 1, 2025.
