Cadott School Board; Should cell phones be allowed in school?

Cadott Police Chief Daryl Pries discussed the implications of students having cell phones during the school day, from a law enforcement perspective, during a regular Cadott School Board meeting Sept. 12. Board members said they would like to see potential updates to the cell phone policy brought to future meetings for discussion. Photo by Julia Wolf

By Julia Wolf

The Cadott School Board discussed options for what the best procedure is, when it comes to students and cell phones, during a regular meeting Sept. 12.

Superintendent Jenny Starck says they had a discussion of student use of cell phones, when going through a school safety review of lockout, lockdown and evacuation, ahead of the start of the school year. She says, if they change the policy on cell phones, or even just more strictly enforce the policies, they want the school board to be behind the decision.

“As things change, if people don’t have access to their students like they’re used to, or students don’t have access to parents like they’re used to, there could be the possibility of some pushback,” said Starck.

Junior and senior high principal Caleb Hundt, says the current policy allows cell phone use before and after school, in the hallways and during lunch.

“We haven’t ever had a procedure in place that allowed the kids to openly use their cell phone in the classroom,” said Hundt.

He says kids who want their phone at lunch have started carrying the phones in their pockets, so they don’t have to swing past their lockers on the way to lunch.

Those caught using a device in the classroom first get a warning, the next violation sees a teacher take the phone for an hour, further violations puts the phone in the office, where parents need to pick up the device.

Hundt says they have had issues where parents don’t hear the voicemail, telling them they need to pick up their child’s phone from the office and are left trying to get in contact with their child, who is walking home without their cell phone.

“We know that parents want that phone back to the kid,” said Hundt, adding that is not how the policy is written.

He says they have not had a lot of issues with cell phones, like some districts have, but there are still some kids getting in trouble with it.

Cadott Police Chief Daryl Pries was also on hand during the meeting to talk about the implications of cell phones, from a law enforcement perspective. “Some of the issues here, that we’ve run into in the past, with the cell phones being in the possession of the students during school hours are harassment, bullying, posting things on social media to get to other students, which causes problems in the learning environment here,” said Pries.

Cell phones in the classroom also open the door to videos of any classroom situation.

Pries says the biggest concern, is phones provide a way for students to message parents during lockdowns or similar situations, which can increase traffic around the school at times when it is critical the space is clear.

“We want to try to minimize that as much as we can, to make our job easier, to get us, to get fire, to get EMS, in here,” said Pries.

Starck says there is an incident command structure in place, which includes communication through one person to families.

Pries says, in his discussion with Terri Olson, elementary principal, cell phones are not a large issue there, because either kids do not have the devices or they are not bringing them to school.

Starck questioned if they should keep the approach that does not call out cell phones in pockets, if they are not used during class, adding she hates to punish all for a few kids’ issues. She says they wanted to provide a picture to the board of what the administration is wrestling with and gather feedback on what they think the best practice is.

Becca Blanchette, board member, suggested the final violation step could be modified to focus more on the parent contact and less on parents picking up the phone.

Board members said they would like to see drafts where current practices are built into the written policies.

The board also decided they would like to learn more about the options for a full-time liaison officer at the school, after hearing price estimates and scheduling possibilities from Pries. Pries also reminded the board that they will have to check with the village, to see whether it is even a possibility.

Board members also approved the retirement of Deb Zais, food service supervisor, effective at the end of the school year.

I have enjoyed working for the school district and the food service department, and appreciate the support that everyone has given me during the last four years, wrote Zais.

The board also approved the 2022-23 annual scorecard for the district, with goals that align with the district’s five-year strategic plan.