The new school phone policy for Springfield District 186 may already be tightening, two weeks into the Aug. 26 start of school. The policy hasn't changed, but school personnel are becoming more strict about how it's being implemented.
"We're finding that we had to go stricter uicker because there's all types of shades of this going well or not going well and we want the parents to really be engaged," said Jennifer Gill, superintendent of District 186.
In August, the school board unanimously approved a restrictive phone policy that adds administrative consequences, outlines different rules for elementary, middle and high schools and acknowledges smart watches. Previously, each school could write its own policy.
High schoolers are required to have their phones off and away during class time and in the hallways but can have phones out at lunch. Middle schoolers need to keep phones in their lockers, and elementary schoolers must keep them in their bags.
"Even though, yes, we've had a cellphone policy, we haven't been strict about it, so kids never thought it would be that serious," said Phong Duong, a senior at Springfield Southeast High School. "Growing up from my freshmen year to my junior year, kids would always be on their phones but having the new rules and implementations of this year, with how strict they are, I feel like kids are taking it more seriously."
Gill says the policy in middle schools has gone "really well," and no public speakers have protested the policy in recent board meetings.
There were also "only a few" concerned parent calls the first week, but overall, parents are thankful for a policy to curb phone habits. And high school parents are utilizing the lunch period to reach their students, according to Gill.
Gill says students can take planned phone calls in designated safe areas and have access to scientific calculators and chrome books throughout the day.
Yet there is still pushback. Duong says he sees kids arguing that they need their phones throughout the day.
"It's just a complete mess that I don't like to put myself into," said Duong.
Students' phones are confiscated for violating this policy. And on the second strike, the student's parent is required to pick up the phone. Eventually, detention can be issued for repeated offenses.
"I think the first week, kids were really scared and put it away," said Gill. "I think this week they're trying to sneak that peak and have a little bit more."
And posting videos of students and staff will result in even more dire conseuences.
When this conversation about cellphones began in May, school officials were concerned with bullying and videoing fights in schools. Cellphones contributed to more than half of the district's 976 student technology violations and 60 suspensions last school year, according to Gill.
Nevertheless, the board voted down the purchase of Yonder pouches that lock up students' phones.
"First of all, it's a continual expense," said Gill. "It just became another thing that we might have to manage at the beginning of the day and the end of the day."
About $215,000 in federal funding was set aside for the potential purchase of these pouches, and Gill says this funding can still be used. Around $17,000 of this fund is currently dedicated to purchase cellphone blocks, which teachers can use to collect phones if classes are not adhering to the rules.
Gill says collaboration and communication are key to this policy's success.
"The teachers have said, 'OK, we're going to follow the same rules and not be on it while we're in class and not be on it when we're walking around the hallways,'" said Gill. "I think with all of us working together, it's going to be more successful."
Addison Wright is a UIS grad student in the Public Affairs Reporting program. Wright graduated from UNC Asheville last spring with a double major in mass communications and political science. She covered local politics in Nashville, Tennessee, and food insecurity and higher education in North Carolina.
