By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Beaufort County students can expect new rules regarding cell phones and other personal electronic devices when they return to the classroom on August 7.
Under the new guidelines put forth by the Beaufort County School District (BCSD), elementary and middle school students, Pre-K through 8th Grade, will only be allowed to use their cell phones before and after school, and high schoolers, 9th through 12th Grades, will be able to use their cell phones before and after school as well as during their lunch block and only in a designated location, but cannot use their 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.
According to the summary of the guidelines put forth by the BCSD, personal electronic and communication devices must be “turned off and stored in a locker, pocket, purse, backpack or other non-visible secure location from the school start time to the school end time.”
“With the state, it’s unclear if it’s only part of the day or a complete ban. We took our own approach here, but when clarification comes from the state with respect to what they meant, it might require us to make an additional modification on that. So, we’re hoping to get that description as soon as possible,” Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said to members of the Beaufort County Board of Education during the June 25 meeting.
Thanks to Proviso 1.103 in the FY 2024-2025 state budget, all South Carolina public schools could see a statewide cell phone policy by no later than January 2025, if schools do not put a phone policy in place they could risk losing state funding.
Rodriguez said that the school board directed him to investigate regulations to prohibit cell phone use during instructional time in May 2024 with hopes to go ahead and implement a plan by the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year to address cell phone usage in class.
“Since the state has tied funding of schools to the proposed cell phone ban, what’s important to note is what they mean by that. Does that mean not at all during the school day, or not during instructional time? If they mean instructional time, then we won’t have to do anything with our proposed cell phone issue. If they mean at all during the course of the day, then we would obviously have to change the high school one,” Rodriguez said.
The South Carolina Department of Education is currently drafting a model policy to be presented at the State Board of Education’s meeting scheduled for August 13.
If it is passed, then the policy would be sent to local school boards to discuss in their next board meetings.
“We understand that limiting cell phones in any form will be a transition for students and as such, we think it’s best to start sooner rather than later,” district spokesperson Candace Bruder said about the BCSD’s decision to not wait for the policy to be passed down from the S.C. Department of Education.
When Rodriguez presented the plan to the Board of Education at the end of June, one concern was enforcement, and he stressed that “single-school culture” is very important when implementing a new rule like this cell phone ban.
Initially, during the school day, announcements will be made at school sites over the intercom system as well as in the classroom to remind students of the cell phone ban.
To get the word out to parents and families, principals will be sharing information and flyers at the back-to-school events as well, according to Bruder.
“It is not going to work unless the entire school and community are on board with dealing with this, because a teacher is going to have 25 kids in class, sitting right in front of them, and they have to be the eyes and ears, in essence, of this, in their classrooms. The number of administrators in the building don’t match the number of classrooms,” Rodriguez said.
Students who violate the Administrative Regulation will be subject to discipline, according to the guidelines.
Delayna Earley, 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.
