001welcome everybody um this is our June 13th 11 a.m. policy meeting I am going to call it to order seeing that we have no public comment on agenda items I'm going to turn it over to miss Graham to get us started with our policies thank you good morning we are going to um start with policy jic CJ I know that we had GB on the agenda but at this time the district does not have any recommendations to present so we will skip forward to jica if that's all right with the board that's perfect thank you so much okay jic CJ is POS possession use of personal electronic devices or District owned devices this is a current policy but significantly updated so you are just presented with the updated policy here for your review there's also
002an administrative rule which we can look at separately but I will give you some time to review this and answer any questions you have perfect thank you yeah yeah at this time um we're looking at policy gcj um possession use of personal electronic devices um or District owned devices um we've had much discussion this is regarding the cell phones uh in schools K through 12 um we're able to meet with our our current administrators um elementary middle school and high school and when we looked at this PO policy also with Dr robbins's guidance as well um kind of put some together some things on this policy what this will look like again when we came to this policy our our main focus was to protect the instructional minutes within the classroom has become a distraction
003within the classroom for our teachers and trying to minimize those distractions in the classroom and so and that's the basis of this policy and so when we look at this uh we can kind of go through this policy and uh and want to and turn it over to miss Bates who is our policy chair about if she has questions what this policy would look like moving forward and also then the operational what that would look like as far as uh you know consequences and how that will look so we're open for questions all right I'm just reading the one in here is this um a model policy or is this just no This was um at the direction of Dr Robbins a a different version of the policy from what we have now but this
004is not a Redline version because it is significantly different in terms of the language itself and yeah and I can um kind of comment on that um we had meetings at uh some of our principal meetings and we had a zoom call yesterday with principes um with this policy that Dr Robbins had kind of put together kind of with guidelines and kind of guard rails as we're going through this and you can kind of see as the elementary schools prek through 5th they can possess personal electronic devices on campus and on school sponsor Transportation provided such devices are not visible used or activated or kept in the off position position throughout the instructional day students must keep such devices stored in a backpack or a non-visible secure location during the instructional day um that is
005K through five okay I was just so I'm looking at the policy I don't see are we are we going to work on the rule as well because that's all part of the rule yes that's all in the rule itself yes so we had the policy first and then the rule separately okay um I think the policy just has a more broad stance and then the rule has the specifics yeah um Mr dhy I wanted to get your feedback regarding the policy in as far as naming um cell phones SmartWatches gaming devices phone accessories including H headphones and earbuds or other devices that emit audible signal vibrate display message display that whole line um under the policy specifically because you were you were addressing the rule um policy jic CJ which which is just essentially
006the policy and then when we get down into the elementary school breakdown middle school high school that's going to be our rule so the policy is the overarch you know um broader expectation and the rule gets into the specifics of it so under personal device we specify what that entails and I know we've had some dialogue around that and I'm happy to get feedback from any of our principles as well if they have anything in regard to what they would like deemed a personal electronic device um but I know you mentioned earbuds possibly um and smart watches not being included in that well I think one thing that we did talk about that with smart watches um I know smart watches are activated when uh they are tied to the phone and getting messages we
007do have several smart watches that can get music and still play that with earbuds uh one thing we talked about with earbuds uh especially at the at the high school level when you get into some of the other things but I think when you're looking at those I think it all comes from the cell phone that cell phone is the the major uh issue that we're having in a lot of our instructional time which is tied to the headphones also the gaming and the smartw watches and so when you look at this I think we were all very comfortable with this policy um because we could have some students that decided to to maybe uh not have their their phone uh powered down and if they did not have their phone powered down those smoke
008smart watches would be activated um so I think we I think keeping the smart watch in there is still acceptable but I I'm not sure that is something that we will if we see a student have it on the on the person that we would take that that that Smartwatch because is it really activated are they using it for the purposes of videoing or are they using it for messaging unless you know again that cell phone has to be turned off and really we're trying the parameters worth in that instructional minutes during class time so do you want the smart watches to be included in because this is basically stating that they're not allowed correct in the policy it would be that they can only be used at the same time that cell phones would
009be allowed to be used so and I I do just want to clarify that some SmartWatches can work without a cell phone so I think that is because you get cellular re you can purchase cellular reception on your cell phone or you can have like the oh sorry Wi-Fi only smart watches that do like you said work in correlation with your phone Mr forworth do you have any feedback sorry I'm just trying to figure out because we like general statement that we're changing it to personal electronic devices right right the intent was to define a personal electronic device as all of those things listed there and then address it as a personal electronic device going forward and so SmartWatches would be permitted at the same time that cell phones are permitted and same for earbuds
010yeah I think the big thing we just don't want to Pigeon all ourselves because we're and that's why we're saying includes but not limited to because there will be technology that is available next year two years from now three years from now we don't even know about no I understand that I guess my um question and what I would like to know especially from our principles is do we want smart watches because that's saying like if I'm a student and I show up to school and I have my watch on I'm breaking the rule right essentially you would be expected to put it with your cell phone when it is an appro time to do that that secure area I don't want to I don't want to take over for our principles but I suspect
011that if it were not presenting an issue I don't know that they would make them Middle School right and and I do believe that oh I'm sorry go Ahad I'm just wondering if the expectation is going to be like let's say the expectation is when they report to class they put their cell phones in the designated area is their expectation going to be to take off their watch and earbuds and also put them in the designated area because if we're lumping them all under the same definition and they all fall under the same thing technically we would be saying when you report to class you put your cell phone in there but like let's say Kelly reports the class and I have my watch on am I expected to put my watch in there or
012are we going to address watches as a separate issue as in like if we notice like hey your cell phone goes in the area but watches if they become an issue and that's kind of what I'm trying I I I don't want to lump it in together if the enforcement or expectation of what we're doing with them is different does that make sense I think we just have to be careful because again and I understand that concern with the watches I I have a smart watch so I I fully understand the technology but you got to remember that so earbuds can do the same thing I can talk to Siri in my ear and they send a text message to Christie and so I think you just have to be very careful on limiting what
013we're saying there um I I think if we just go back to the overarching reason I to me and correct if I'm wrong there's two reasons that we need this policy to be more um in depth right instructional time that's time focus is instructional time but B and I I see Mr giant out there I think B we're also having some security issues yes um with children taking videos posting those videos obviously that's a major concern for our school district again I'm I'm always a big proponent of of keeping a policy very very high level and then letting the district manage it as they see fit well I don't know that we need to sit here and figure out whether we're going to let a student wear a smartwatch or not well that's my point
014is if it's in this policy and then we go over to the rule and the rule is and am I incorrect is does the rule specify personal electronic device or only cell phone goes into the personal electronic device so what we're saying is in the rule when they report to class they're going to have to put their phone in a designated area they're not even like going to be able to hide it in their backpack they're not going to be able they're going they're going to be expected to surrender their phone to the area because that's a personal electronic device now if we're identifying a watch and an earbud as a personal electronic device to me that's saying in the rule I now have to surrender both of those so can we I guess if
015we include those in personal electronic devices can we specify in the rule what's done with a watch versus what's done with a phone I don't know does that make sense intent would be that the same thing would be done with them because if you take a student's cell phone but you don't take their watch they would just be able to continue to use their watch as a cell phone right I think you're eliminating the video aspect I think it's a lot probably hard I don't know I I love some input from our principles on what they think I just don't want I I already know surrendering the phone is going to be a thing so then surrendering earbuds and watches like is that something that's even feasible realistic or something we want us in yeah
016so I and I'll speak um for myself and Michelle can jump on if she agrees or not but I I think what I just heard you say as I was walking up is is really too prong um when you look at the issue of you know taking video the safety those types of things I think we're all in agreement here that uh we want to be able to to stop that or control that um that there should be no videos taken without permission we certainly don't want people taking videos of things that shouldn't be happening in our schools and then posting them elsewhere um that's not okay so we we we would like to guard against that I'm not sure the best mous trap or policy or whatever we do to to fix that um
017but we want to cover that I I thought I thought I understood too as we discussed this that um right now around our country in our state elsewhere I think from our board um there is the notion that the cell phones are getting in way just of the education of our children they are distraction from what's going on in the classroom most of the time when they're being used and so the idea that we want to keep that distraction out of the way in the classroom is a I think separate from like the video piece especially when we get to the rule or the management piece that I'm charged with this principle um when we talk about what's going on in the classroom and specifically you asking about the watch and the earbuds and the
018phone if we don't want it to be a distraction I wear this I am addicted to my phone I will admit it um and I understand and you're not going to stop people from using it unless we take it off their person not in our high schools um that is the problem now if you've ever heard from any of our teachers that cell phones are a problem or cell phones are a distraction um we deal with cell phones now um I think as part of the sample policy is written it would still look very much the same if they're allowed to keep it on their person the students who are addicted to their phones will try to use their phon then we are asking our teachers who I only want to ask to plan and
019deliver good lessons I'm asking them now to monitor cell phone use monitor use of the watch monitor whether whether there's an earbud in their ear and whether or not there's sound coming from some device to that earbud teachers don't want to worry about that because they want to focus on teaching the students and so I think when we're valuing our staff trying to maximize our roles and what we're doing and then for our role as an administrator to enforce this they can't have any of that if we want to eliminate the distraction and I think that's where we landed at the language and lumping it all into that term and saying it can't be on their person and so we've discussed options of having them come in the room and put all of their devices
020included there you know in a in a pouch or in a boxer in whatever Contraption we come up with and and they have to have a routine in every classroom and we explain to our teachers our expectation is follow that routine and in turn that saves you the need to Monitor and feel like you have to look I remember back in the old days the worst thing was teachers had to figure out if somebody was chewing gum in the room you know now there's a lot more to that right so in addition to teaching you're worried about whether or not they have this device and they're using this device right and so that's why we wrote it that way and it sounds horrific um I'm thinking you know in my household my son who has
021a smartwatch I just tell him look don't wear your smartwatch to school if this is how it's going to be um because I don't think taking your Smartwatch on and off that seems weird um you know so get regular watch if you need to tell time don't use a Smart Watch at school because every 90 minute period you're going to have to take it off and put it with your phone in the Box you got to take your earbuds and put them in the phone and they're all Bluetooth connected and our rooms frankly are small enough that you can stay Bluetooth to your phone over there in the box or the pouch and still get something on your earbuds still get something on your watch and so I think they have to take it all
022off if we don't want it to happen in the classroom so even shutting down the phone and putting in the Box would not be sufficient it would need to be all of it well so many of my students carry a burner phone as they say in the vernacular um so their burner phones were not going to find there are watches that connect without phones um that have their own uh plan with the carrier um so there's it gets around all of that so whether it Bluetooths or whether they use it themselves one thing that I was thinking as as you made your point one thing we didn't write in there is the new smart glasses and Justin just said Mr Farnsworth just said you know there's new techn techology coming um you know the smart
023glasses are here and they will be more prevalent in years to come I mean you can get them in in rayb bands if you want to be F didn't even know that was a thing and again and that's all I'm saying this is a really folks understand this is a really tough egg to crack it is because there's there's never ever ever going to be a silver bullet for this um but I I mean I agree with the intent I know what the intent is but how do you fix that at the end of the day we can take everything we can strip them down everything come in with their clothes we can get rid of burner phones we can do all that stuff but they will figure out a way on their laptops to
024find distractions on their laptops well I think the goal is obviously to minimize it and minimize stuff like you were saying that the incentive to go to the bathroom and meet Joe in there and start a fight and Stage IT and video it because you now have your cell phone on your person um and the distractions in the classroom ultimately trying to reduce the amount of things and and the reason the only reason why I'm asking about this is not because I disagree age or agree or anyway is I want to make sure what we're tasking you with makes sense and you support that and you think it's enforceable I don't want to say you guys have to take away cell phones and watches and earbuds and then you're like looking at me all crazy
025like what the heck is Kelly it's asking us to do so that's why I want to make sure that that's and I think that's where the the High School principles find ourselves as we've kind of talked about this is to Mr Farnsworth point a minute ago he wants policy to be high level and not too restrictive and then we work on the details down the road right but we are also trying to back into this a little bit what does enforcement of the policy look like I'm telling you that our teachers can't and we feel like it'll put us in a tough spot as Administration to try to come down on the teachers more to monitor whether or not they're sneaking any of the devices we have listed to maybe include glasses that I'd like
026to point out now to you know whatever those devices are how we Define it to allow them to have any of that during the instructional time in the classroom I think our easiest enforcement mode is to make them have to take it off their person and and we've gone so far as to say as an administrator walking into a room I should walk into a classroom with 28 students and be able to see where their storing their devices in the box or in the bag or whatever and I should see 28 devic if I only see five that's a conversation I need to have with that teacher why did 23 students not put their device because all 28 of them have a device rest assured right they have a device so if that thing is
027not full when I walk in a classroom to match the number of kids the teachers not F our expectation to put it there I think a reasonable expectation for the teachers is set our procedure same from class to class put your stuff in there when you come in the room take your stuff when you leave the room yep I hope and I I think that's manageable for us if we allow I'm just I'll go on record if you allow them to keep it on their person we're going to be chasing the discipline of a kid sneaking their stuff they're still going to sneak a burner phone or they're going to sneak something else but the few kids that are able and willing to do that I'll chase them but I can't chase the 99% and
028minimizes it to the amount now oh go ahead well so from an operational perspective I guess I'm just trying to figure out because right now I mean in theory right now they they're not allowed to have their phones on during instructional time yeah so what's what's essentially happening in our high school and um it may not align exactly with our written policy that still has PID in it at the time but um it's up to the teacher in the classroom and I think what all of us are saying is that generally the default is no no cell phone in the classroom they're allowed to keep it on their person but you shouldn't have your cell phone out the teacher may choose to allow them to use their cell phone and that has happen that's what's
029currently happening um what happens in each of our schools if a student has their phone out and they're not supposed to have it out they call for administration and we come and remove the student and the phone from the classroom see and and I think that's the hard part right because if I'm a student and the precedent if I go to miss class and she's like oh yeah you know it's okay but then I go to Miss Jones and she's like put your phone away you can't do it I'm going to confiscate it like that sends a mixed signal and so well that's why we're that's why we're addressing thisy potentially it's posit but but again I just want to go back to the fact we have it in policy right now they the phone
030should be off devices Hur or that's why we want to surrender them instead of yeah and that's what I'm saying that's the difference that's what I'm trying having that routine and having them take it off their person and surrender the phone is the only way we feel like we can reasonably manage that so I used to substitute teach a much smaller school but we would that's how we took attendance for the class so there was a like a shoe like the shoe thing that you put the shoes in it was hung behind the teacher's desk you go to the class you stick your phone in your designated number I look I'm like 11 is missing Joe where's your phone and I would know that if Joe's in my class and his phone's not in there
031because he didn't put it there so he has to put it there and at you know they couldn't get it it was behind me during instructional time and then at the last five minutes of class they would pull it from their thing and go about their merry way and go to their next class and that it that was the expectation and for us I saw a lot of success in a smaller capacity because it's a lot harder to monitor When You're Expecting it to put it in your backpack but um Is it feasible to do each class period or would it be better to do at the beginning and end of the day and that was something I know that was discussed as well so I wanted to get your feedback on that too um
032and I'll speak Michelle feel free to take the mic from me um I I think that uh the day long is difficult uh if we are going to allow during ilt or during other times um I think it's going to be very difficult not to have them have their phone I think taking it giving it back for Al taking it back is nearly impossible um we discussed Yonder is a brand name Yonder bags um that they use like at concerts and stuff that don't allow the signal to come out uh there are schools in the vicinity that have used these I happen to run into somebody that works at James Island Charter High School at a birthday party a few weeks ago and when I asked him about it his face just sunk his whole
033demeanor um it's been a terrible experiment for them he did not recommend it at all I can go into details but I just that's probably the only way I could see that we could maybe take them for the day and he just said it doesn't work well um and did not advise that we go that direction I think they're changing their plan going forward Ward next year is what I've heard um so I just don't think day long is the thing the only thing we control is a routine from class period to class period and then that being consistently first that helps a lot okay I'm I'm and we were very adamant about I keep saying routine because I I mean a consistent rout like the place you put your phone is pretty much in
034the same place in every room the expectation to walk in the door and put it there use it for attendance is the same we're going to teach that to the teachers we're going to expect that of the teachers and I want it to be you know like almost like Pav's dog like when you walk in a door you're grabbing your phone and putting it in that's what I do I'm trained to do that and so that would become routine and I mean that in the firest sense of the word routine for our students everybody does it that way in every class all day long awesome um first of all I do apologize my car wouldn't start so I had to wait until I could get here but anyway the bottom line is I think if
035we give too many options there's a breakdown and when the breakdown happened to kids take advantage of it so the bottom line is I don't think the teacher should have the option of well he's a nice kid no everybody has to do the same thing and so we at least me I'm going to look for the principal to call that teacher in if you allowing that teacher to have discretion yeah Johnny might be a nice kid but the bottom line is the phone is has a place to go we want everybody to do it too many times the sub have an issue because they don't feel they have to respect sub but if it's a format that has already been put in place everybody should have to do it if it's your kid that your
036child your personal child you may think that they're whatever but your child phone has to go in there and you have no business even if you work in the district you have no business going and confronting a teacher about the fact that your child had the phone taken everybody's child has to have the phone taken yeah and and I agree if especially if we uh are able to put this policy through this summer be ready to start we get a hard reset at the start of the Year we're all ready to go with that routine I think you know given what the policy says now and where we have been up until today um I think the toothpaste is out of the tube so to speak there was a time before we had devices in
037every child's hand um we've used red yellow and green cards in the room green means we're using our cell phone yellow means only with permission red means absolutely not um we've we've done all of those things and it's been a mismash of that but we firmly and forever I think for our involvement in education will have devices in the children's hand where they can access um the worldwide web and do what they need to do with that uh so I don't see the need for the phone their personal device anymore and I think again setting a routine and all I think I do speak for all three High School principles that we are comfortable setting that routine expecting our staff to uphold that and no there there will be no I mean we are ready
038to as administrators to step in immediately when when this child comes in and says I'm not putting my phone in there today well they're not having class in there today they're going with the administrator and you know what I would like to see happen if at all possible after maybe four weeks uh whenever you all think is best if you kind of give us some kind of read out on what's Happening as far as the policy that we're going to eventually put in place regarding this to see if that's working if it's not then we have to go back to the drawing board and come up with something else we can always tweak it if need be but I think that would be that's a really good point I just like to I don't want
039to wait a whole year before get an update I just want to know is this reallying so far do we need to maybe and again Mr farnsworth's point is writing the policy high level let's not paint ourselves in a corner so to speak let's make a workable policy um the actual final details of enforcement boil down to what we're able to manage and we can report back absolutely to you on how that's going I I kind of had a talk with Miss liner about this too and uh and I'd be curious to get your perspective as well I'm torn about putting the enforcement mechanism in the rule like the the um you know kind of what you guys came up with first offense second offense and all that whether or not we should include it
040in the rule from what you just said it sounds like you want to maybe leave it off um but part of what I was thinking at is the consistency of application across because it's coming from the district a b when y'all are met with all the angry parents who are like hey why am I having to pay or why is this the situ it's very clear that this is coming from the district this is board policy first offense second offense third offense it's not like one school's doing one thing one school's doing the other not that you guys I'm sure you guys will are all on the same page and will be on the same page but it also gives you a something to point to to these people of hey this is our District's
041expectation we're not just doing this to be you know hard on the kids or whatever specifically at this school this is what our policy says at the district level so my my feedback is we will absolutely work together on this I mean we use our discipline Matrix now and I I feel like although we don't call each other daily on discipline consequence we handle discipline daily and I'm confident in all three high schools the similar offenses have similar consequences um we've talked about that and we have a matrix that we follow there is room to maneuver because every situation is different but we want to try to hold solid to a plan I will say that personally I I do think that writing too much in policy about what we're doing I know it's maybe
042helpful for us to point at it and say oh well it's the policy and you know don't yell at me well they're going to yell anyway they've already yelled by the time we've had this conversation um so you know that that part if we write it in policy uh you know to your point of waiting a year to fix it if I got if we decide we don't want to follow that anymore two months down the road we want to make an adjustment it's a lot longer to change policy than it is to say our rules or our procedures for How We Do It are not NE necessarily written in school board policy the policy again high level tells us what we are trying to accomplish and what we expect the actual rules of how
043we maneuver that I mean I feel confident I'm in my legal standing as a principal of the school I make decisions and rules and determinations for what has to happen to keep people safe and ensure the education of these students every day and everything I do and say is not written in a Schoolboard policy that's impossible right so we can control the rules or the consequences or whatever whether they're WR in the policy or whether we have just the agreement across our schools and District departments as to how this is being handled and I think that can be consistent whether you write it in the policy or not if we do get too descript in the policy it is harder to change it if we realize we were wrong we need to adjust and you
044know I agree with that I just would caution against strain a you know you do this for one kid but you don't do it for the other kid that you're already going to end up with a mess because the parents will be upset I would be upset so when you and I know that they're extenuating circumstances and we expect you to know when that occurs everybody doesn't have to know that but for the most part as much as you can be consistent the more it will work and not just make and we we have spoken at length we've spent multiple hours the three of us um talking about this on multiple meeting occasions about what we intend to do and lock step together I think the other thing is if you don't put it in
045policy it should be in the student handbook you know and I think with that student handbook then it comes your consequences of your steps so if a parent knows ahead of time I know here's a student handbook and here are the consequences step one you have your phone it's confiscated and blah blah blah and step two second offense is this so I think if you put it in your student handbook and that is what parents are going to see your students see they all have to sign off on it and then it's right there there is there they're supposed to but there's no there is no wiggle room because it's all spelled out for them so you as a principal you can say here it is it's in our student handbook it's been approved by
046the board you know here it is well they can't say like I didn't know that or you know correct where does it say that that's the consequence or how can you charge me for this or that's what I worry about um we and we've also discussed to that point that it's worth it if this is a hard reset and a hard you know point that we're making to to start the coming school year um because the toothpaste has been out of the tube especially we need to be very clear we've talked about sending a flyer just about cell phones send something home put it on our social media um you know put a video together that we show every class during their home room about the expectations I have personal face-to-face meetings with my students
047at the start of each semester and it would be one of the things I will address directly as a major point for getting along in the school like listen this is different from maybe what you you expected or experienced in the past and here is what we are doing and don't test us because you will have it confiscated you will have a fine or whatever we say the policy is going to be like here are the steps and we're putting it out and we're willing to do a document and share it across all the res schools and share it explicitly just about the cell phone thing because this is it's going to be stressful for some people it's going to be tough getting the plane off the ground but once we're in the air we're
048going to be okay yeah growing it always stinks when you change something you always have those pains at first but then people adapt all right well I appreciate you Mr Aldridge thank you so much I'll call you back up if I have more um well in light of all that wonderful information I am perfectly fine with moving forward with the personal electronic devices as defined um in the Miss B I do have one question and this would probably be to um Miss Graham or Miss uh Amanda uh we do have several students are diabetic and several students have diabetic monitors on I know that are tied to their phones yeah and so if that's a medical thing how how do we proceed on this with this policy Miss Graham or with the Manda just I'm
049just curious on that to help give some guide students to a 504 plan they can address that hello um we do specifically address that in uh their 504 plan for their disability so it's an accommodation listed in the 504 plan stating that they have access to their electronic devices at all times so that would include anything LED in the definition for personal electronic device perfect I just want to make sure we we're well all aware of that one thank you so much thank you I appreciate you I've got um kind of a a legal nitpicky question okay so as far as if if we are I guess taking somebody's property because that's the question we're going to get from parents for that time period we're taking possession of their property have the ability to do
050that no concerns there miss Graham um kind of on that before you answer that but you can first answer that I guess that's a difficult question we do have authority to confiscate it during the school day um and ensure that a student receives that back in a safe and timely manner but we do have authority to confiscate it just as any other Contraband that's against school rules for the period of the school day Miss Grim I did want to see about possibly since if we are going to do this are going to be S surrendering so to speak their devices at the beginning of every class could we in the student handbook when they sign off on that include a liability waiver of some sort and I know you're like look at me and I
051did um actually kind of draft one that I will bring down look at sure you can tell me if there we can certainly do that um I don't know that it sometimes it is helpful so um we can certainly do that it is written in the policy that the district is not responsible for that um for any damage that occurs to a student's phone Etc I think that uh to be honest the hard part that I think we will face is damage that occurs outside of the school but is blamed on the school and that is a very difficult thing to address in any way um but that is something that we already do now when we confiscate students phones and we have to address that um currently so but we can certainly add a
052liability waiver okay sure just sure sure yeah I mean typically we wouldn't include something like that in the board policy itself that would be something that would be part of the student handbook or a separate form that a parent would sign um but we can certainly look over that and consider that as an appropriate action okay what and what was that for that's for us being liable for them being liable it's it basically um what it would outline is what I'm proposing and it's just an option and I don't know if it's it obviously have to go through our legal council is it basically says um we have a policy that students must Place their phone in a designated area instructed by the teacher at the beginning of every class they can receive their cell
053phones from the designated area at the end of class or electronic device um it says the school district will take reasonable measures to ensure the designated area is secured during class times teachers will supervise the placement and retrieval of you know kind of goes through like just a broad like and you can adjust that however you would see fit to like re you know reasonable measures to ensure it's safe but at the end of the day we're not Li for damages of the phone or you know whatever and I I think if you do have a designated area it would be important that teachers between Class periods like at the end if there is something left in there they set that device aside so the next class that comes in isn't like oh there's a
054phone in there and then takes it you know what I mean so or a watch or whatever so they would have to obviously like clear that area between classes that is something that the teachers will also need instruction and guidance from their Administration on how they manage that each class period so that is something to be considered I'm happy to take a look at this I don't want to and you could adjust it and no yeah and you're fine it was basically essentially just saying like hey they're going to be surrendered this is part of our policy and what we're requiring and we're not making our admin and teachers liable for every like you're choosing to bring your device to school and if you're worried about it don't bring your device to school true you
055know and and if you want to try to say like you lost your phone well you actually left it in the thing or didn't put it in the thing and then try to blame it on a teacher or something like that I just don't want that to become an issue I might recommend rather than doing a liability waiver to add a little additional language here in the policy that just says by bringing your phone to school you agree that the district is not responsible for and that last paragraph there that's on the screen just adding a provision above because my concern would be that if we develop a liability waiver we don't have a way to ensure that we get that back and everybody sign it well then um if you could add sure a
056line like that and are you good with that yeah okay we could add something like that all right I want to throw my personal two cents there with the taking the phone out of their hands piece one thing that I think is important that we should stress and that the board who often takes complaints would be able to quote as well is that when they put their phone up in their classroom they're putting it up and they're putting it up in their site it stays in their site the whole time there in the room um so that's helpful to to manage that along with everything you just said Miss Bates uh and then also from a further confiscation when it come becomes a discipline consequence and a problem that we may take the phone I
057just feel like personally what what we're doing now is about the extent of my comfort level and I do take a if I were to report to second period because Miss Bates has her phone out and I have to ask you to step out and come with me um I send you to my ISD room for the rest of the period for creating that disruption you don't get to finish in the class that period And I take your phone from you if you refuse to give your phone up we're suspending the child for refusing to comply with us um but if you give me your phone I an administrator or a security safety control officer administrator one would be the one doing this we take the phone we have a system for logging the phone
058and putting the phone in the main office but we do allow them to get their phone back at the end of the day we tell them there's going to be a charge and whether they could pay us immediately or whether we have to put it on their uh obligation account um we do that for a payment if we're doing that and then they get their phone at the end of the day because we do know that having their phones if they're a latch key kid or whatever their situation is they may need or have to have their phone when they leave school so we do not regularly keep their phones overnight or for an extended period um and I just know that that could be an issue for us if we elected to go into
059further confisa confiscations um that worries me so I'm comfortable saying you don't really have to have it the rest of the school day but when you get ready to leave here you got to call your mom and tell you made at home or you have to call in work or you have to do whatever you do they may need to take their phone at the end of the day so we would make Provisions to give it back yeah I think that I mean I I'm perfectly fine with that I think that's reasonable and and I think uh Miss Bates I think you've seen some of this and I know our principles came up with it and when they met like they've kind of put on their classroom these are kind of the consequences for high
060school so again video audio recording sharing the videos especially on social media kids making Tik toks that's you know it's different um fights are five days if they they have to Vis you know if they're videoing it you know or usually or or a hearing is usually um but then the classroom is you know refuse to put the phone in the holder get the phone during class period have another device first offense would be ISS remainder of period one day ISS $25 and cons confiscate the phone second would be ISS remainder of the day two days ISS one day OSS $25 fee and confiscate phone third is ISS remainder of day three days OSS $25 fee confiscate phone School probation and the fourth referral will be expulsion for hearing um fee must be paid before
061phone is returned um and it says if student refuses to hand over device what you were talking about Mr Aldridge uh they issue issue a refusal to obey referral with the consequence you get a one-day OSS second is 3day OSS and the third is exposion for hearing so I think you know I think you all covered all of that I think those are things you guys all covered with it so I I'm I actually really like this and I know we talked about not including this in the rule and I'm fine with that but if we do decide not to include in the rule and we're going to include it in the handbook I would like to see the first offense maybe not a fine um and I would like to um apart from that
062I'm perfectly fine with this but I do think it needs to be included somewhere if possible you talking about the fine or take the just the just the expectations so like I as a parent know that that's going to be happening you know what I mean and I think Miss Bates going back to what you're saying whether it's in policy or in the handbook I think most people parents will go through the student handbook before they're going to go through policy and then the the student handbook are the consequences so I think what you were saying if this is put in there then they know the consequences are there this is what's going to happen I think it's very very important so I I think yeah taking that $25 off as far as the first
063offense we can definitely do that not a problem Miss Grant for the the statement you were going to add I do see in this one it says the district is not responsible is this the or no this is the policy the district is not responsible for the loss or damage of any personal electronic device are you saying you would add to that by bringing your phone okay we can I mean that statement was already in there with the same intent but we can add something that by bringing your phone you agree that okay and then I was just clarifying what we were changing all right um if anybody has any questions or concerns regarding this policy or anything else they would like to share on the policy itself the ji J jcj um before we
064go ahead and pass it for first reading with the proposed change to the last paragraph We good we good Miss pal yes all right so that can go on for first reading with the changes to the last paragraph excellent thank you so next we do have the administrative rule which we've already talked a good bit about but I do want to make sure that we review do that separately that is j i cjr and this just provides more definition and um spells out some of the specifics about when personal electronic devices are able to be used and when they are not at the different levels I'm just going to read through it one more time so give me a minute and I don't know if this is Mr dhy whenever you're done reading it if
065this is something you would like to go through um are we going to pull it up on the screen too okay yeah yeah I can go through that with we have it to pull up on the screen M gram the rule is that it okay okay yeah yeah I can go through this again again we're looking at uh policy a r jic j-r possession use of personal electronic devices or District owned devices and so the district's code of conduct is established to achieve and maintain order in schools consequences for inappropriate digital Behavior will be assessed depending upon the severity of the fraction and level of misconduct for purpose of this regulation the instructional school day is from the student arrival at school until the final dismissal Bell instructional school day includes but is not limited
066limited to lunch break class changes and other structured or unstructured activities students May possess per personal electronic devices while on campus only if the student aderes to the restrictions provided herein any unauthorized use of the personal electronic device during the instructional school day is prohibited as it can disrupt the instructional program and or distract from the educational environment earbuds and headphones may be worn in the classroom for instructional purposes or as approved by the teacher earbuds headphones may not be worn at any other time during the instructional day when personal electronic devices are not permitted and so then it lays out kind of what happens in elementary schools um they may possess personal electronic devices on campus and on school sponsored Transportation provided such uh devices are not visible used or activated and are kept
067uh in the off position throughout the instructional day students must keep such devices stored in backpack or other nonvisible secur location during the instructional day um going to Transportation one thing we talked about and Mr sh um had spoken about that bus drivers have the right to tell students to put those devices away we do have several times where students do listen to headphones on buses um that does keep them um from bringing any issues on the bus that's that's what they do they game they could be listening to music which is fine the big issues if they're taking that phone and videoing and you know bullying or doing things like that so that's where that bus driver has that right as well so that could be an issue so we talked about that and
068he wanted to make sure bus driver still had the right to uh to discipline children with devices so do we need to include something like about transportation at the disc that is specifically included under all schools at the end of this policy it says School administrators and bus drivers reserve the right to immediately require that personal electronic devices be turned off and stored in connection with any safety related initiative can you bold that part about the bus drivers has the right to sure because sometimes you know they really don't read it but if they glance at it if it's bold it they'll see that they can ask for that phone or whatever sure we can bu that thank you Miss pal I agree and so then it just goes through the when you're looking at
069the the elementary so there's that times of authorized use for elementary school as follows after the dismissal Bell at the end of the instructional School Day Middle School students 6th through 8th grade May possess personal electronic devices on school property provided they are not visible used or activated and are kept in the off position throughout the instructional day and while on school sponsored Transportation middle school students must keep their personal devices stored in a pocket purse backpack or nonvisible secure location and so can we change that to the designated are we not going to have a designated area for Middle School when we talk with our Middle School principles we did not have a designation for the Middle School principles they felt like if they were not visible they felt that was good with the
070backpacks they weren't seeing as as much distractions as they were in the high schools and so that's why they said if they were put in the opposition and they were not um displayed in a backpack purse ref does that create any issues with the transition like you know the m at Middle School having one expectation in high school having another do we want consistency does anybody have any feedback in regards to that or was this kind of vetted through you're saying Middle School the principales talked about that maybe has some insight well while he's coming up let me say especially with middle schoolers they have they're visible they're in the back pocket you can see it on their person and so I don't know how that's going to go over if you're just saying it
071can't be visible because they will be visible they weren't supposed to be visible before but they're still allowed to let them walk around and they can see it right so the one part of the conversation that I did here and have with Middle School principles going back to the analogy I said the toothpaste is already out of the tube at the high school um it's not necessarily out of the tube at the middle school right now for the large majority they don't pull their phones out during class and do that they do keep it away so they're not having the problem and I think maybe the idea of having a place to take the phone out and put it in the classroom they felt like was more encouraging to take the phone out because a
072lot of the children do turn it off and put it in their backpack and they don't touch it all day and so we're inviting them to touch it and to have it out to put it in the spay and so that's kind of you know I think my point too that if it's on their person they attempted to do something I think that's a concern and so pocket is not the best choice we're hoping they have a book bag they have somewhere else they put it that's not right at their fingertips but that was kind of the conversation we had and I think where the middle school principals landed was not inviting them to touch their phone I'm just saying if you're going to say should not be visible and anybody walking down the hallway
073can see that phone in their back pocket walking across campus then we'll defeat the purpose say exactly what you want to say m pal I and I don't mean to interrupt you but I think some of that could be semantics because I think what what we're really trying to drill down on when they say visible they're talking about like if I've got my phone right here and I'm here this is visible versus if I have it in my back pocket I agree with you I can see that phone but that's that's a difference in in visibility I think is what they're and specifically the idea of pocket uh I feel like we even discussed taking pocket off of there as not an option but then the point was made that what about a child that
074does not carry a book bag does not have a purse doesn't have any other place to put it we're not going to let them put it in their pocket like what what else do we do that's all they have is their pocket so I think that's why pocket was left in there but I'm saying if you're going to say should not be visible you need to clarify that because some people are just some of these tiny children can't get their big phone completely in I know the my pants are PL big mine goes in there but some of these little girls can't get get that in the pocket of their little pants so I I don't know the solution that's just my experience Miss gram could you just say something like define visible as like
075outside you know I don't know is there I was trying to think of other words but I I was like non-accessible but in your pocket it's still accessible so I I don't know I think I'm happy to think on another word but do you not clarify as as a visible distraction yeah maybe that's a good way like or visible usage um because a big thing at the middle school is we don't have lockers anymore other for use and see you know a sub coming in they can see the not visible or accessible for use you know I'm just saying clarify that so you don't have anybody confused not accessible for you because then that's still accessible for you you're going to see it's visible and you're going to say I'm taking the phone that's right
076I do think it's amazing yeah I mean I I will say that there was as Mr aler alluded to extensive discussion about that it was Pati to remove pocket and the middle school principes did feel like it should stay um because they did have students who don't have anywhere else to put it and they see that as a big problem with enforcement so I'm happy to try to think of some language I don't know if I have anything put something in parentheses that basically say uh your pocket can be a storage for your phone or whatever that's what it say just can't be in your hands or anything like that whatever way you want to phrase that but I'm just saying if you say that that then they make you made an exception for that
077one they didn't say anything they saw my phone so then they're going to do the next thing which is to walk around with the phone in the hand well I think when it says nonvisible secure it kind of maybe we just remove that second non-visible before secure and just say other secure location yeah I don't know if that know how people feel that I'm honestly fine fine with it where it's at because I can't think of a better way to define it without and you don't want to again kind of to the point of some of the people that spoke today be too specific and then put yourself in a position where now you can't tell a kid to put a phone in their pocket when they're just at school carrying their laptop and have
078no other you know if that's your only Avenue and I think that's fine and as long as it's not an issue and then I know we if we move on to the high school area um I don't know if you want to go over that but the allowed I think it's very much similar right other than yeah times for a of authorized use would be on school sponsor Transportation before the morning tardy Bell to begin the instructional day after the dismissal bill at the end of the instructional day during ilt and other times authorized by the principal so um I think those really covers again we're again trying to make sure that our instructional time is guarded and that's where we're having most of our distractions I do have a slight concern and I'm sure
079maybe Mr Aldridge will come up and share with this one um the other times authorized by the principal my concern is um like when other time would that be and what does that look like Miss Graham can correct me but I feel like that bullet um was our safety valve on this um you know did we there are times where we have to take away the privilege of I and students have to stay in their SLT time because we've had um you know non-compliance or dangerous behavior and we have to close down for that and so you know if we say they can have it during their I which maybe gets translated to well while we're closed down for I and I'm still in this classroom but I should get to have my phone um
080so well no we're not allowing you to have your phone while you're here or if there were some other reason why if we had some kind of special pep rally or event or something going on where we said you're allowed to have your phone out for this type of event this is this is fun time it's it's good everybody being responsible can use their phone um you know then we just felt like there may be something we didn't want to be ratcheted down to never having a safety valve there right and I don't think this is necessarily a concern I know our principles fairly well and I know that you guys aren't going to do this so please don't misconstrue what I'm asking but I worry about that line being being an opportunity be like
081well you know it can be at the teacher's discretion and then we go back to that the principal says it could be at the teacher discretion if their students finished all their work then you know and that's what I worry about is maybe an a school or something then kind of like laxing back on that so is there a way we can protect against that while still providing autonomy within reason I think that's more of a Personnel operations discussion if if that is is not being abided by at a school then that would be the superintendent's duty to address that with the administration I will say that that portion above does clarify that if the principal modifies the definition of the instructional school day and changes it Al together as Mr aldrid said like um
082if they have to close on ilt then they would send written notification to the parents and the students clarifying um what the cell phone usage would be during that time but I think for specific circumstances like pep rallies or special events they do need Authority to do that and if that Authority were being misused then that would be addressed by the superintendent okay do do would we normally point to anything to that or that's just the expectation that's just the expectation I'm fine with that I just wanted to um just down below there says so during those times in which the use of personal electronic device is not permitted by high school students a teacher of each course will have a storage device uh in their classroom and that and just to clarify that talk
083with Dr Robbins that storage device will be determined by the district how that will what that will look like um in their classroom where students will place their personal electronic devices immediately upon entering the classroom and retrieve the personal electronic devices prior to exiting the classroom for their end of their instruction period I know on the storage devices we've talked about different mechanisms for that but then I know I heard our principal's mention it being visible while the students in class to like know that their device is safe but I feel like we have to be careful because if we do like a locked storage you know thing how are we separating students devices from one another within that Lock storage unit or whatever it is that is determined um like does that have numbered
084slots that they're identified by that does there's a lot of different units out there there's lock boxes I know what do Mr Aldridge was talking about James Island I know they went from the pouches now they're going to lock boxes I believe now um trip correct if I'm wrong but that's what they're going to there are pouches like you've seen which you on the back of your definitely don't want to do the pouches I'm just concerned also about the lack of visibility and then that creating possibly that frustration with yeah clear okay see that's what I would if we're not going to do like a pouch I would like to see something that it's still visible so there can't be any and then you put it right behind the teacher desk because that's usually off
085limits for students so you wouldn't have students going back behind there so that would keep that in mind operationally I know that's something we can talk to Dr Robins about but I definitely would I don't know could we say stored in where where did it specify it just says we'll have a storage device in their classroom say a visible storage device yeah that's fine yeah so they make some clear boxes we have a few at our school that we've used that we' have to research what's available and and would work for this schoolwide situation they're like clear lexon boxes that have individual compartments for each thing there's also like the shoe pouch kind of thing like you talked about I like the shoe pouch thing but I do understand that if there's like a fire
086drill and then we had to vacate like abruptly and those phones were left unsupervised and then they come back to the room and something's missing like I do see the issues but then again you're kind of waving your the liability by you know bringing your phone to school in the first place but I would like it to say visible invisible storage device Vis visible I guess it kind of implies that because it says a storage device is in their classroom but we can put like M Graham is there a way we can not specify that the the devices will be visible in the device or I mean certainly if that's the will of the board we can write clear or translucent in there I think that the concern that I'm hearing is that there are
087a lot of different things out there um I I don't know that from a safety of the item standpoint that the clarity of the box is really going to address any of that concern but um do our principles feel like that matters at all like the device being able to be visible to the students or not I think I think it's great that would be my preference okay okay again then that comes down to money as well so we got to see what what we can afford super cheap so it might we don't know but I think that's why it'll be if it's left up to the district I think that will be comp I do think that's okay that's fine I'm going to finish reading this and uh then it talks about all schools
088School administrators and bus drivers reserve the right to immediate require the personal electronic devices be turned off and stored in connection with safety related initiative and going back to what you said Miss pal that's kind of that one uh being bolded there for our bus drivers they do have that right especially it involves with anything safety videoing anything like that um the use of the electronic device for picture taking video recording audio recording posting or text mess results in students cheating or which causes or may cause a major disruption will result in additional discipline at the principal's discretion students will not use personal or District issued electronic devices to capture video audio or photos of other people at school unless under the guidance of a teacher and related to a curriculum objectives the posting or
089sharing of these photographs in videos will result in disciplinary consequences student use of personal or District issued electronic device to engage in illegal or unethical Behavior such as bullying harassment threats or intimidation may result in additional consequences for a student pursuant to the student code of conduct student use of an electronic device to wrongfully enhance their own academic performance or another student's academic performance or receive additional consequences for academic dishonesty disciplinary offenses resulting from unauthorized use or misuse of Technology device may result in restricted right to possess or use personal or District issued electronic devices so it kind of covers both there and then obviously the last paragraph is basically the administration reserves the right for those additional consequences yes and I think we talked a little bit about that those consequences then will be
090put in that student handbook um which we need to have there probably at our next probably at the next board meeting could we also include the consequences kind of um I know they're mentioned briefly in in what I'm looking at here for the recording as well because I know the the bringing the device and the confiscating the device is one thing but then including the consequences for you know the unauthorized recording or refusal to turn over the phone I that's included in that first sentence of that main paragraph there the second sentence handbook when he does the handbook um that outlines those yes the specific consequences for that just so that the parents know like hey your kid was caught recording and that's why they were met with right this consequence or whatever I I
091will just caution that by putting it in the handbook we are locking ourselves in for the entire school year to that so I do just want to clarify that but well I will defer that to Dr Robbins and Mr dhy and to determine yep that sounds good we can do that I I think what happens they talk a little bit about it in um in our meeting first with our principls talked about you know that refusing to hand over the device that's that refusal to obey ref referral so again it kind of could go into that right I just want to make sure the expectations are both clear and consistent across the board a and and clear to the parents and students what the consequences are you know however we we do that I want
092it to be very very clear like I as a student no I can see somewhere that if I do that that's what's happening you know what I mean whether we make an infographic and you know like Mr Aldridge said like push that out and and share that and then like we have to revisit that later on down the road and change those um we reshare those expectations at the school level but something that I as a parent I see like clearly like the seat time one we kind of did like this this this you know something that clearly identifies what the consequences are going to be absolutely I remember when we went to one of the cosas um conferences and I believe it's here in South Carolina because the children had a tendency to record
093the fights and then post them their consequences was just as bad almost as the person that did the fighting so that was in order to make sure that those kids did not post take copies of it then post it because then you end up with a whole another situation happening yeah and that was one thing the principls did talk about if student did do that it's it's just as bad as a fight they put them up for expulsion and then they would go up for that I know that was discussed uh by our high school principal so yes absolutely well I will defer those consequences and all that to y'all but as far as the rule goes um I think everything looks good to me does anybody else have any concerns or feedback or changes
094or anything all right well then we would like to move the rule on for first reading and um seeing that we are going to table the other two policies which sorry I'm trying to find which mouse was mine for the next policy meeting uh I see no public comments so I am going to adjourn thank you