The Sarasota County school board will not change its cellphone policy for students. That's after most parents and teachers responding to survey said they want to stick with the current rules, not make them more strict.
"Most want to keep current implementation as is," schools Superintendent Terry Connor said at a workshop on Tuesday.
"Elementary: no use throughout the entire day. Middle school: only as directed by the teacher for instructional purposes. High school: the same thing, but transition and lunch included," he said.
The superintendent also said it would cost the district at least $1 million to buy special lockable pouches to store phones during the day.
Connor said he is not aware of any districts in Florida that require such pouches, but that about 20 of the 67 counties have a bell-to-bell cellphone ban.
Board member Liz Barker, who has worked as a school psychologist, said a full ban on cellphones during school is not as simple or effective as it may sound.
"I'm not sure that it will completely solve the issue of mental health for youth and or maybe even make the impact that we want it to have."
Board member Bridget Ziegler pushed for more rigid rules.
"I appreciate the work, but my stance is, I would like to see a much stricter policy. I think it would benefit our students, but if we're not going there, I'd love to see more enhancements on the education part," she said.
Connor concluded by agreeing that more work could be done on educating students about the dangers of cellphone use.
"We've got community partners that would be willing to work with us to develop strong curriculum that we could be a leader in that space. So I will — our team will tackle that," Connor said.
