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Phone ban? School board considers it
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · December 24, 2024
Should the school district ban cell phones from campus?
Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to make it a priority in the 2025 legislative session, and the West Branch Board of Education seems interested in learning more.
After hearing West Branch High School Principal Sara Oswald report on a recent showing of “Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age,” school board members on Nov. 11 began asking questions.
Oswald reported on mixed reactions from the teenagers who watched the film.
“Overall, students acknowledged that they can struggle with screen time and want constant access to their phones. However, they are not interested in stricter school policies,” she chuckled. “No surprise there.”
Asked how staff responded, Oswald said they had “good conversations.”
“The kids were, amazingly, not on their phones during the film because they were irritated,” she smiled, which prompted laughs around the board room. “They came in full of righteous indignation and had some talking points in their small groups, but some valid stuff, too. Whatever we would do, they would want the adults to have similar expectations.”
Oswald said that during the Life Skills classes in November, one of the teachers reported the class had a little bit of dead time while the speakers prepared and many girls got on their phones. That is, until one of them spoke up: “Guys, we look like those people in that movie!”
“And they all put their phones away,” Oswald smiled. “I liked that. It made me happy.”
Dr. Delaney Ruston, who created “Screenagers,” told ABC News in 2016 that her family bans cell phones from bedrooms at night, the dining room table, and the car.
She learned that most teens average 6.5 hours per day looking at screens, not including for school work. At one point in the movie, MIT psychology professor Sherry Turkle argues that studies on multitasking show that teenagers who get distracted think they are handling the demands of the classroom better, but they are not.
Also in the movie, one young man said he and his friends place their phones in the middle of a restaurant table and whoever checks their phone first must pay for everyone’s meal.
Board President Greg Hetrick said he would like to know if any nearby districts went “hard-core” on phones and if they found “any significant difference.”
Oswald said Oskaloosa did. In 2019, the Oskaloosa Community School District Board of Directors realized that students were failing classes because their phones caused distractions, according to a July 2019 story by The Oskaloosa Herald.
Oswald said that some WBHS classrooms have “phone homes” — designated areas to put phones away from students during class time.
“For the kids — it is literally, physically painful to see that your phone is over there and not here with me,” she said. “One of my staff members tried it last spring and it was successful, (using) individual plastic pouches that are (held with) Velcro to the desk and they put their phone in the little pouch and zip it up … it seems to be working because it’s away but it’s there. It’s like a security blanket.”
“The key is to keep it upside-down,” Superintendent Marty Jimmerson said.
Jimmerson said policies help with enforcement as opposed to single teachers making “phone homes” a practice.
Jimmerson noted that the Iowa legislature plans to consider the issue.
According to a Nov. 26 article in the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Ankeny, Ames, Dallas Center-Grimes, and Ottumwa all implemented various types of bans. Some prohibit them from buildings, others restrict them from classrooms but allow use between classes and during lunch.
The Dispatch quoted the governor saying she wants to “give a lot of respect” to school districts, teachers, and parents to propose their own policies.
“I want to make sure that I’m respecting the hard work that’s already gone into place by the school districts that have stepped up and implemented it,” she told the media outlet. “I want to supplement and enhance that.”
Hetrick said phone bans vary, from prohibiting them entirely to locking them up at school with the opportunity to use them at lunch. Some schools use locking mechanisms similar to the anti-theft tags found at clothing stores, he said.
Jimmerson said prohibiting phones also helps bring down cyberbullying.
EdWeek.org reported in a story updated on Dec. 10 that 19 states passed laws or enacted policies to ban or restrict personal phones statewide or made recommendations that school districts do it on their own.
Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina restrict phones throughout the state. California, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Virginia require policies to restrict phones.
EdWeek.org also reports that Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, and Pennsylvania offer incentives for policies on restrictions.
Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Delaware passed incentive policies that fund the purchase of storage pouches for phones. Idaho awards $5,000 to schools that implement a policy that restricts use.
Further, Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wisconsin all recommend a school policy.
In addition to Iowa, Washington, Oregon, Kansas, Alaska, Arkansas, Alabama, New Hampshire, Connecticut, West Virginia, and Delaware all plan to consider restriction laws.
In other business, the board:
• heard Superintendent Marty Jimmerson report that replacing the greenhouse may cost more than $800,000. He said a 12-person Greenhouse Steering Committee met in October to begin planning with architectural firm OPN.
“OPN was there to help people understand the sticker shock,” Jimmerson said. “That’s a lot for a greenhouse.”
He said the committee asked good questions on “next steps.” He said he will meet with high school Principal Sara Oswald and agriculture instructor Renee Thompson will talk further.
“Everything is on the table as far as this is concerned. The district does have some capabilities to provide some money, but … we’re pretty tapped out at this point,” he said.
Jimmerson said the committee may need to raise the money privately.
“There’s a lot of moving parts,” the superintendent said. “Oh, man. We know this is something we can’t do just door to door. This is going to take some bigger corporate donations and potential grants.”
If the school district seeks grants, it needs to make sure “no strings are attached” so the district is not forced to hurt programs.
• heard that West Branch High School’s Student Government received the Honor Council Award for the fourth consecutive year while attending the Iowa Student Leadership Conference in Ames on Oct. 28.
“We were also delighted to be awarded the first-ever Vicki Carstens Vision Award in recognition of contributions and visionary leadership in the student council,” Student Government sponsor Abby Noelck wrote in a memo to the board. “Our Clawset project, in which we collect and redistribute (West Branch) Bears clothing items to students and community members at no cost, was instrumental in earning this award.”
• approved an early graduation request for senior Riana Stewart.
• approved hiring Taylor Larson to coach the middle school boys’ basketball team.
• approved a bid from Presidential Builders LLC of West Liberty to plow snow for the next two years. The only bid received, it states that clearing 1 to 3 inches of snow will cost $2,300, 3.1 to 6 inches of snow costs $3,000, and 6.1 to 9 inches of snow costs $3,900. Anything deeper and Presidential Builders will charge an hourly rate of $175.
“They’ve done good work for us in the past, so I believe it would be best to continue to work with them,” Jimmerson wrote in a memo.
• approved acceptance of the Education Support Personnel Salary Supplement, worth $22,617 to give stipends to full-time and part-time hourly non-certified staff. The ESPSS is one-time funding from the state.
“We are looking at giving full-time hourly staff (those working over 30 hours a week) a $361 stipend and part-time staff (those working under 30 hours per week) a $180.50 stipend,” Jimmerson wrote in a memo. “When you include FICA/IPERS (retirement), that takes up all of our allotment.”
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