HILLSBOROUGH, Fla. — Now that students are back in school, ABC Action News is taking a closer look at the new cell phone policies in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties.
“Students are going to see much stronger cell phone policies,” said Laura Hine, Chair of the Pinellas County School Board.
“It’s a movement across the state, across the nation to limit cell phones in classrooms unless directed by teachers,” said Van Ayres, Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent.
In Hillsborough County, elementary and middle schoolers can only have access to their phones before and after school.
“And if the teacher you know has something they need their cell phones for. But their cell phones have to be put away,” said Karen Perez, Hillsborough School Board Chair.
The same goes for high schoolers, except they will be allowed to use their phones during their lunch break.
In Pinellas County, there are similar rules.
“Cell phones are off and out of sight from first bell to last bell, all day,” said Hine.
Pinellas County high schoolers will also have more leniency when not in class, during the school day.
“No cell phones except for during passing time and during lunchtime,” said Hine.
Leaders from both districts said they're cracking down on this now because phones have increasingly become more of a distraction to learning in recent years.
“It’s all the social media. Everything that kids are interacting with that causes issues within our classrooms, within our school day,” said Ayres.
“It’s true that students actually only spend about 14% of their year in school. But that 14% we take very seriously,” said Hine.
Along with this new policy, in Pinellas, the district will also implement a K-12 digital responsibility curriculum on electronic devices.
“So yes, we as parents, we as schools, can try to take the devices away to some extent, but we also have to teach not just our students but even ourselves how to best use them. How to incorporate them. How to leverage them for success. And mitigate the damage that we know they can also cause,” said Hine.
In tightening up these rules on phones, both districts plan to strictly enforce them. There will be consequences if students don’t obey.
“We’re going to keep this in the forefront every day to make sure these cell phones are put away during the school day,” said Ayres.
“We have to have clear consistent guidelines, policies, consequences and make sure we implement those from the very first day so that we can be the most successful with these new policies,” said Hine.
