How are DeKalb County schools monitoring cellphones in classrooms?

Working as an educator the past 13 years, Malta Elementary School teacher Amy Walker said she’s seen “quite the change” in cellphones’ prominent presence in the classroom.

It’s something that’s been especially challenging to mitigate since school temporarily went fully remote during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We do have a handful of kids that bring them to school,” Walker said. “They’re pretty good, though, about leaving them in their locker. We set the expectation right from the beginning that [the cellphone] doesn’t come out of your backpack. The only time where it gets a little bit tricky with cellphones at the elementary level is while the kids are waiting for the bus because they have their backpacks, they have all their things, and they naturally just want to get their phones out.”

The handheld devices that once were used for communication only now have the world available at the touch of a button. And some educators, administrators and parents across DeKalb County are debating the role of cellphones in schools.

In DeKalb School District 428, students at DeKalb High School and the middle schools will not be allowed to bring their cellphones into the classroom at all this year. Students returned for the new school year Wednesday.

Restrictions on cellphone use in schools have increased in the past year nationally, as some educators see them as distractions to learning and studies indicate the negative impact of social media on youth as phone use rises. In the past year, 10 states including Indiana have passed legislation regarding cellphones in the classroom. Other states banning cellphones in the classroom include Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana, while Alabama strongly encourages every school district to set a policy.

In a recent study, 77% of schools in the U.S. say they restrict cellphones outside of academic use, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Are DeKalb County schools restricting cellphone use in classrooms?

In DeKalb

DeKalb middle and high school students are being asked this year to place their cellphones in their lockers during instructional time. They’ll be able to use their device during lunch.

DeKalb High School Principal Donna Larson said this practice aligns with the district’s existing cellphone policy. Enforcement this time around is key.

“We are enforcing the practice that all electronics need to be put away. It’s expected to be in the locker,” Larson said. “We just want to make sure that instructional time is literally for our instructional practices, and ensuring that our students are making the most of their education. Also, [that they’re] personally interacting with one another instead of just being on their cellphones and social media.”

DeKalb students are prohibited from using their cellphones (or any other electronic device) in any manner that disrupts the educational environment or violates the rights of others, according to the district’s policy.

Students also are forbidden from using their devices to take photos in locker rooms or bathrooms, cheat or as a means of violating the student conduct rules.

What do parents or community members think?

Out of 72 northern Illinois residents surveyed by Shaw Local News Network, 52 respondents said they were either slightly or strongly in favor of cellphones being banned in classrooms.

Cameron Dye, a DeKalb parent of a not yet school-age child, said he was strongly in favor of a classroom cellphone ban.

“There are many places adults are forbidden to use them – most jobs [and] courtrooms as examples,” Dye said. “If you have to put in rules for adults, who mostly can control their focus, then how good can kids keep their focus?”

Shelly Reuter, also a DeKalb parent, said she’s strongly in favor of banning cellphones in classrooms.

“Children are in class to learn, not socialize. There is nothing wrong with removing their cellphone for eight hours to focus on school. It isn’t going to hurt them,” Reuter wrote in a survey response.

In Sycamore

Sycamore High School dean Nate Wright has worked in education for the past 18 years and witnessed the proliferation of teenage smartphone use.

He said managing how that technology is used and to what degree is a disruption to learning.

“I’ve gone from there not being smartphones to smartphones in education, so it is definitely a new hurdle to overcome every year,” he said. “And obviously the technology gets better and better, and so that creates not just your cellphone issue. You also have smartwatches and other wearable devices. Earpods and headphones are becoming more and more advanced, and you’re starting to see even glasses and wearable devices over your eyes that are starting to incorporate some of those technologies.”

Although increasingly sophisticated telecommunication technology requires school administrators to be on the lookout for new distractions, generations of students have long argued they can study or write better while listening to music, a common function of smartphones.

Wright said that although Sycamore School District 427 students aren’t expected to place their cellphones in their lockers, they generally aren’t allowed to use them in classrooms either.

“The best way to summarize our cellphone policy is that it should be out of sight and silent during instructional time,” Wright said. “That is what is put on most of our communication with students, communication with parents, classroom rules, syllabi and things like that.”

Sycamore parent Colleen Batcheller said she is slightly against cellphones being banned from the classroom.

“In the two years our middle schooler has had a cellphone, it has never been an issue that affected his academic success,” Batcheller wrote in a survey response. “Sycamore Middle School has a policy that seems to work well. It benefits our family for him to be able to communicate with us before and after school. He is a bus rider, and sometimes I cannot reach the school quick enough when our plans have changed, so it helps that we have a direct line of communication with him. It is also peace of mind that he would have it in case of an emergency.”

At Genoa-Kingston schools

This school year, Genoa-Kingston High School students may face more immediate and severe consequences if they do not follow the district’s handbook regarding cellphones, officials said.

Under the district’s guidelines, students aren’t allowed to use cellphones or other such devices “inappropriately,” according to the handbook. That includes the use of smartwatches or other electronic devices across Genoa-Kingston School District 424.

The first time a student is caught with a phone, they’ll be asked to put it away. The second time, the student must turn over the device to the building’s front office, where a parent or guardian can collect it at the end of the day, according to an email sent to students and parents by Genoa-Kingston Principal Rhonda Andrews.

The third time a student is a caught with a phone will result in a day-of in-school suspension and a parent-teacher conference.

“We recognize cellphones are an important safety device and families may want to contact their student during the school day,” Andrews wrote. “Families can contact the front office if they need to reach their student during a class period; however, students will still be able to check their phones during passing periods and during lunch.

“We believe that by enforcing the cellphone/telecommunication device rules that it will create a much more positive learning environment so our students remain focused and engaged during instruction.”

Finding a balance

While students skirting rules is not a new paradigm, over the past two decades, schools have increasingly wrestled with how to prevent students from using their cellphones during instructional time.

The vast majority of U.S. teenagers – middle school and high school-aged children – have access to smartphones, according to the Pew Research Center.

Amid DeKalb’s ban on cellphones in classrooms, Larson said students can use a district-issued form of technology to listen to music if a teacher deems it appropriate.

“If they need music and things like that, every student in our district has a Chromebook that they have access to,” Larson said. “So they’ll still be able to access their music, based on teacher discretion, on individual work time if they want to write an essay and listen to some music.”

She said some students have told school officials they’re in favor of the policy.

Amonauquenette Parker, DeKalb’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion, said language regarding cellphone use in the student/parent handbook has not changed, but the district is seeking to accommodate students’ wishes.

“We are being more consistent because [of] what we know,” Parker said. “Our students have repeatedly told us that they need us to be more consistent. And so [the handbook] does say that electronic devices can be used during noninstructional time for grades six through 12.”

At Sycamore Middle School, Batcheller said she worries about her son being away from his phone should an emergency arise.

“I don’t know what the answer is, but I have heard suggestions of a cellphone bin that students can put their phone in as soon as they enter the room,” Batcheller wrote. “We will respect whatever the school decides is best for fostering the best educational environment possible while keeping safety in mind.”

She said she was in middle school in 1999 at the time of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. She said she worries that with the prevalence of gun violence plaguing American schools, easy access to contacting your child should take priority, but said she’s willing to work with the district to find a solution.

“I think we’re going to always fight the distraction of technology, but at the same time, one of our roles in education is to teach kids how to use them appropriately and responsibly,” Batcheller wrote. “So I think if you don’t come at the problem from that viewpoint, then I think you’re potentially missing an important piece of education there.”