By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Beaufort County high school students will have to adjust to changes to the cell phone ban when they return to the classroom in January.
The South Carolina Department of Education mandated that high school students will no longer be able to use their cell phones during their lunch block.
Cell phones will not be allowed to be used by students in grades Pre-K through 12th grade during school hours, but all students can use personal electronic devices and personal communication devices before and after school.
Students must leave their devices turned off and stored away in non-visible secure location such as a locker, pocket or purse from the start of school to the end of school.
Previously, Beaufort County School District (BCSD) high school students, 9th through 12th grade, were allowed to use their cell phones during their lunch block in a designated location but were not allowed to use personal electronic devices during their lunch block.
Per the BCSD, a personal electronic device is defined as a device that “has the capability of electronically sending, receiving, storing, recording, reproducing or displaying information and/or data;” such as a computer, tablet, e-reader, portable media player, drone, video gaming system, GPS instruments, digital cameras and camcorders.
A personal communication device is “defined as having the capability of communicating by means of sending receiving, storing, recording, reproducing and/or displaying information and data, any device that emits an audible signal, vibrates, displays a message, live streams or otherwise summons or delivers a communication to the processor;” examples of this would include cellular phones, smart watches and headphones.
All South Carolina public schools are required to follow the statewide cell phone policy by no later than January 2025, but Beaufort County enacted theirs in August 2024 so that they could get ahead of the ban, Superintendent Frank Rodriguez previously told The Island News.
Rodriguez also said during an interview with The Island News in July, that they knew there was a good chance that they would have to amend the cell phone policy once the S.C. Department of Education was clearer in their policy.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
