VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The issue of cell phones in the classroom was front and center in Virginia Beach Monday.

Dozens of people gathered at Tallwood High School to talk about Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s latest plan to keep cellular devices away from the education process. It’s the Governor’s Executive Order 33.

According to the governor’s office, the order would take immediate actions to protect the health and safety of student’s in Virginia’s K-12 public schools by issuing guidance on the establishment of cell-phone free education policies and procedures. Many are divided on the issue.

“I do think they should be turned off in classrooms,” said teacher and parent Sarah Dicalogero. “I don’t know if it’s feasible to take them away.”

A student at the meeting suggested a place for students to keep their phones in each classroom.

“There should be a cubby in front of the classroom or some sort of place that the teacher has set up,” said recent high school graduate Rachal Liddie.

Another teacher said there must be a plan in place if cell phones are not allowed in the classroom.

“We have to come up with a plan,” said teacher Monique Turner. “If we remove it, we have to replace it with something else.”

Those are just some of the thoughts surrounding Youngkin’s push for creating cell phone free classrooms in the Commonwealth. Virginia’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons said she knows there are lots of questions, and that’s why she and her team are here to help.

“We have some significant issues with cell phones,” Coons said, “and if we put a cell phone in a classroom, we don’t want the opportunity for a child to be distracted or unable to focus on the classroom.”

Aside from academic achievement suffering, mental health problems are growing, which is why she said a solution is needed.

Aug. 15 is when the Virginia Department of Education expects to have guidance drafted.

The next step will be collecting feedback from Virginians on their website through September, in hopes of having a school cell phone policy ready to go into effect on Jan. 1.

Know more

To find out more about the governor’s new cell phone policy, entitled, Cell Phone-Free Education in Virginia K-12 Public Schools, click here.