The Londonderry School Board received an update regarding cell phone use in schools during its most recent meeting.
Superintendent, Dan Black, explained that they wanted to give them an update with the start of school. It was also noted by Black that a lot of school districts have gone in the same direction as Londonderry when it comes to cell phone rules.
“During the 2023-24 school year, LHS saw positive results from the new procedures, though consistency waned in May and June,” Black wrote in a memo to the School Board. “Over the summer, our leadership team, now including teacher leaders, discussed the matter. We are committed to maintaining consistency in the appropriate use of personal electronic devices by students while they are in the building. We will continue to monitor progress through enhanced disciplinary reporting features implemented by the House offices. We will maintain open dialogue with students and staff on this topic and adjust our procedures as needed.”
For the Middle School, Black listed a number of different pros and cons, for how it’s going with cell phone use.
The pros includes:
“1. We have experienced very few incidents of inappropriate cell phone use in the classroom or during the school day.
- Our students have shown commendable responsibility by keeping their phones in their book bags and turning them off during the school day, as per the Learning Management System (LMS) expectation.
- Overall, staff have not had issues with cell phone use, and the majority of students have met with grade-level assistant principals, who have reviewed cell phone use and procedures.”
For the cons, Black wrote a “group of seventh graders were involved in a text chain that resulted in inappropriate images and messaging.”
“The school and local authorities investigated this matter as it impacted students in our school. However, the messaging occurred outside of school and over the weekend,” Black wrote in a memo.
For the elementary school level, it was noted that they aren’t allowed.
“Cell phones are not allowed during the school day,” Black wrote in a memo.
School Board member, Amanda Butcher, who has children at Londonderry Middle School, said she has been impressed with how it seems to be going with cell phone use.
“I’m really impressed with the lack of use of cellphones at the middle school,” she said.
School Board Chair, Bob Slater, asked if it would be easier if they made it a formal policy for cell phone, and electronic devices use in the future.
Black explained that he wouldn’t recommend it at this point, in order to gather more data throughout the year.