001welcome staff stakeholders parents and anyone watching on YouTube Welcome to our December superintendent update uh again we're very thankful for all the rain that we had in November hopefully everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and we're welcoming back to finish up the first semester strong and getting the second semester uh started very quickly so again every time that we uh have one of these updates we really want to focus why are we doing this uh what are we doing and then how are we actually going to achieve this and so what we're going to really focus on this month is that we put together a self phone committee a cell phone committee uh is making recommendations to the school board and the administration as to a potential policy uh that they'd like to have enacted for the
002following school year so uh this really helps us focus in on strategic plan four where we want to make sure that we have some consistent relevant communication as well as we're developing deep relationships and engagement with our uh stakeholders so we had three parents three staff members and three students um the parents were selected by uh they filled out a Google survey U Back early in the year and and we had a handful of parents that requested to be a part of that and we we took three parents that represented a cross-section of parents uh in the ages of the students they had in the district um as well as what their feelings are uh towards in incorporating this policy uh we also selected uh three staff members one from each building and then we
003selected uh three students one from the middle school and two from the high school uh to serve on this committee and I will say that uh as a group all of us that have met we have been very very impressed with our students that have been part participating um not only can they articulate their position very well um their position may be surprising to a lot of adults their position believes that when uh teachers are teaching we need to put the devices up and that the devices can be distracting and they can overall be harmful at some point in time uh with our students and so uh we got some really good feedback from them on helping us uh develop some recommendations uh so kind of what are we going what has been done and
004what are we going to do so back in June the USD 264 Board of Education requested that we kind of put in a cell phone policy and before we put in a policy um that would be kind of reactive to the the needs in the moment uh we really wanted to understand the why and so part of understanding the why was putting together this committee U so that we could get a cross-section of voices and we could get a multitude of opinions on uh what are things that are going well what are things that aren't going well and how can we better manage uh personal devices or cell phones going forward at the same time ksde and the Kansas State Board of Education formed the task force to study screen time uh and its effect
005on students as a district we had to report uh how much screen time each day that each grade level was probably getting on a device as well as what our policy was um regarding cell phones so then next we formed this Committee of the parent staff and students we've met twice we've got one more meeting coming up uh just later this week the first week in December and we're working on making three recommendations uh to the administration the school administration principal superintendents and the board as uh these be the components of a policy the first one is a gradual release of personal device use with consistent accountability uh what that really means is that kindergarteners yeah we shouldn't have devices at all we shouldn't have them at school if they do have a device uh
006keep them at home um but make sure that there's some consistent accountability as we get into intermediate and middle school there's going to be this gradual release of maybe they're able to use it before school and after school but during the school day it'll be in their locker or locked up all day long and then as we get into the high school being able to have the students have the devices um during passing periods and at lunch before and after school but though those phones would be either put up or would be placed into a safe location um during uh class time so what would be called a bell-to-bell policy uh the second thing is that a proactive education on device uh management and how we receive information so one thing that really came out
007of this from both the students and the parents was how are we as Educators training or teaching our students uh in conjunction with the parents on how to best use the devices when and where um similar to hey if you're at the dinner table should you have your device out or can you put it up and be able to have a conversation with someone uh setting across from you um also the second part is understanding that when we live in a world of U social media like we do and having instant communication is that information reliable and how can we at the school setting help um students understand how to decipher whether information is real or if it's misinformation and how to ask questions to better be good consumers of that information then lastly uh
008we wanted to put together a student advocacy group and this group will really be helping be a liaison for the administration and students on personal device use and so being able to have constant uh direct communication with the administration on what is going well what's not going well how uh can they help and also are things working um in in doing those pieces so kind of our when or what are our next steps and what are our some of our timelines and so we're going to take those recommendations and finalize some of the language around them in December and we're going to present those recommendations to the administration in January in January and early February the administration will work on writing what would be an official policy and an an official policy language at the
009March board meeting we will take that policy to the board to have a first read meaning they're going to just read ask questions and ask for any revisions and then in April will be the second read and then we'll make an action item to approve that for the handbook starting in the 25 uh 26 school year uh also both of our students that have participated in all the meetings they are planning on uh presenting they want to be a part of that and helping the administration draft the language as well as present to the school board so we're excited that those students are taking on that kind of Civic engagement and getting involved with the policy writing uh process so as we kind of move into this uh when we're thinking about B1 degree more
010within this area is how can we as staff and stakeholders and parents start having conversations with students about appropriate use of Technology uh we are not Banning technology we're not Banning cell phones what we want to be able to do is we want to be able to start having conversations of when and where is the right time to use them and how can we help model that as adults for our students as well so again anytime you want to reach out and have a conversation we'll always gladly uh sit down with you so either send an email uh find me on Twitter or you can call the office and schedule of time to come in and visit we look forward to uh getting the first semester completed and starting off the second semester it's been
011a great year so far and we're ready to make uh second semester even better thank you