VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — As the deadline for cellphone-free learning for Virginia’s public schools sneaks up, Virginia Beach City Public School Board members met at a Tuesday school board meeting to discuss its progress in meeting the governor’s mandate.
“We want to ensure that our schools know exactly what the expectation is coming into next year,” VBCPS Chief Schools Officer Matthew Delaney said.
That expectation is to have cellphone-free education in all K-12 public schools across Virginia. For Hampton Roads’ largest school division, their current proposal is to have no cellphone usage from bell-to-bell. That includes lunch and in-between classes. Board members say that would be a big adjustment for high schoolers.
“There is so much notification that these kids need for their sports [and] for after school activities,” VBCPS board member Trenace Riggs said. “Things happen that they’re texted, so for them to be able to check it at lunchtime would be advantageous.”
Others are concerned that there will be an uptick in disciplinary violations with this policy, “or parents who say, ‘I don’t care what your policy is, my child is going to have that phone, so those are the little things that I worry about,” VBCPS School Board chairwoman Kimberly Melnyk said.
“Parents are dependent on being able to contact or see what their children are doing for many valid reasons,” Delaney said.
They are concerns that will continue to be navigated as they work on tweaking their final proposal.
The school division’s next steps are the Policy Review Committee meeting on Nov. 21, followed by the School Board informational meeting Nov. 26 and lastly, the Board could take action on the item at the Dec. 10 board meeting.
