The Alaska Board of Education and Early Development released a draft statewide cell phone policy during their Wednesday meeting. The policy allows school districts to restrict student cell phone usage in class, with exemptions for medical reasons and other educational purposes. The board recommends districts adopt the restrictions, but the policy stops short of requiring it.
The board will gather feedback from school district superintendents and vote on the policy at their next meeting in Juneau on March 10.
Alaska Education Commissioner Deena Bishop said districts would retain control over many of the policy specifics.
“Those smaller details that are quite important to the place and the space would be district decisions,” Bishop said.
Many schools in the Anchorage School District and Mat-Su have enacted their own cell phone restrictions in recent years, and reported positive outcomes.
The board’s draft policy differs from a proposed state Senate Bill from Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, that would require schools to enact their own cell phone restrictions or adopt the state board’s version. It would also prohibit cell phone use during lunch periods.
Bishop said staff at schools that have already put restrictions in place report greater student interaction without cell phones present at lunchtime. Bishop was asked to share feedback with the board from schools that already have policies.
“Their students are starting to engage with each other at lunchtime,” Bishop said. “On a school visit he asked me just ‘listen, listen,’ and it was a loud cafeteria. And he said ‘it used to be quiet because they were all individually on their phone.”
Bishop said the department’s cell phone policy aims to strike a balance with student cell phone use.
“I honestly feel that if we don’t pass something, it’s like having a liquor cabinet open and saying, ‘You know what kids just, just regulate yourself on that,’” Bishop said.