To pitch a ‘My Turn’ guest column, email jdalessio@news-gazette.com.
To submit a letter to the editor, click here.
Want to purchase today’s print edition? Here’s a map of single-copy locations.
Sign up for our daily newsletter here
Violate the cellphone policy one time at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley and students’ devices are taken away, to be returned only after they serve a detention stint that afternoon.
Do it a second time at St. Joseph-Ogden and it’s double trouble — Saturday school for the student, whose phone is kept until a parent or guardian comes to pick it up.
Strike three at St. Thomas More comes with a $20 fine and the phone staying in the school’s hands until a parent or guardian signs it out — after their student serves detention.
And should it happen a fourth time at Cerro Gordo, there will be “consequences for insubordination,” including the loss of cellphone privileges for whatever’s left of the school year.
Student cellphone policies vary slightly from school to school but the majority around here share this much in common: Booting them up at lunch is allowed but unless the teacher says it’s OK, they’re not to be used in the classroom.
The penalties for doing so — and the number of students disciplined in 2023-24 — are where there’s more disparity among area districts. Here’s a look.
For a roundtable discussion on the topic, click here.
“Rarely” do issues make their way to the high school principal’s office, says Arthur-Lovington Atwood-Hammond’s Steffanie Seegmiller, who dealt with about 20 cases in 2023-24. Most are handled in the classroom, where students can turn in devices at the start of each period, then pick them up after. Phones and headphones are permitted during passing periods.
If class is in session, phones must be out of sight, with violators — of which there were 12 this school year — having their devices confiscated and put in a school safe until a parent picks it up. “The device will not be sent home with the student,” Superintendent Tom Mulligan says.
The one-high school district just updated its student handbook in January, prohibiting students from using phones in class unless allowed by the teacher. “I will say that there seems to be much more conversation from students during lunch periods and I feel like our staff has been happy about the change,” Superintendent Nick Hipsher says.
“We have not banned the use of cellphones in the district,” Superintendent Mary Vogt says. “In fact, some of our high school teachers use a QR code connected to a Google Sheet for students to sign out and back into class instead of writing a hall pass.”
All told, four phones were seized this year — two at the elementary level, the other two involving high schoolers “after students reported seeing items of concern on social media the night before,” Vogt says. “The phones were confiscated until the SRO could investigate the accusations.”
Bismarck-Henning Rossville-Alvin means business with its penalties for policy violators. All involve some form of detention and the requirement that confiscated phones be picked up by parents. And, “any cellphone violations involving cheating, sexting or anything that causes a disruption in the school processes is subject to more significant consequences.”
Violate the high school policy a third time, as happened 13 times, and students must leave their phone in the office or at home for one day. A first offense at the junior high level, which happened 14 times, means the phone goes straight to the main office for the rest of the day.
“The use of electronic devices and other technology at school is a privilege, not a right,” Cerro Gordo’s policy reminds students. In the average week, high school Principal Brandon Willard confiscates about five phones and gives them back at day’s end — to students after a first offense, to parents or guardians after Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
Eight weeks after the school board voted to adopt a new policy that mirrors most other area public school districts', parents received the new rules in writing Monday. The big change: violators' phones will be confiscated — not by teachers but administrators.
"We understand that cell phones are an integral part of modern life, but our priority is the academic success and mental well-being of our students," district officials said in a letter to families Monday. "We believe this practice will help students develop better concentration, reduce anxiety, and ultimately improve their overall school experience. Unit 4 provides every student with a Chromebook for schoolwork, so a cell phone is not essential for student learning."
Consequences for violating the policy are the same across all levels and similar to those in place in many area districts: the first offense leads to "discipline referral, parent contact, and confiscation of phone for the remainder of the day."
"Repeated/severe" violations prompt "discipline referral, parent contact, confiscation of phone for the remainder of the day through daily check-in with administration, and parent retrieval of phone."
How the policy varies by level:
— Elementary: Electronic devices may be brought to school, but must be off and left in the student’s backpack during the entire school day.
— Middle school: Devices may be used in the cafeteria during lunch.
— High school: Devices may be used in the hallways during passing times and in the cafeteria during lunch.
Teachers, the policy states, are "not responsible for confiscating cell phones. School administrators or their designees are the only staff responsible for confiscating cell phones."
Thirty-four phones were confiscated districtwide — including 13 at South View Upper Elementary, 10 at North Ridge Middle School and none at Danville High, where students are prohibited from using electronic devices.
“One of the advantages of being a small district,” Superintendent Michael Tresnak says, is that “usually, a strong conversation with a student settles the problem.” The Piatt County district of fewer than 200 didn’t confiscate any phones in 2023-24.
High school “parents are encouraged to contact the school office for any emergency situation or to relay a message,” Fisher’s policy notes, given that student phones are prohibited from being in use during instructional time. Any teacher or staffer can confiscate a device from a rule breaker, with the dean/principal allowed discretion when doling out punishment.
The district’s year-old policy — dubbed “Bell to Bell — No Cell” — has led to a “significant reduction of discipline-related incidents” at Mary Miller Junior High, Principal Josh Cavanaugh says. While 36 students were involved in 57 violations, “with 100 percent of the offenses, kids simply shut the phone down, turn the phone over to the staff member and then pick it up at the end of the day.”
There were an area-high 97 phones taken away at the high school, where the new policy also made a difference, according to Principal Kevin Thomas: “We do have issues with social media drama and other inappropriate actions with phones but they are much less with our confiscation policy.”
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley doesn’t keep data on confiscated phones, but “it is not a huge issue; our kids are regularly compliant,” Superintendent Jeremy Darnell says.
A few unique twists to the high school policy: Students with Ds or Fs in any class are not permitted to be on their phones during study hall or advisory, and they can be kept in silence mode, not all the way powered off, when placed in pouches in each classroom.
Second and third offenses result in Friday night school. A fourth ends with in-school suspension.
The 41 high school violations include students with multiple offenses, Principal Corey White notes. It’s not until the third offense that a parent is called and told their student’s phone will only be released to them.
Not only must they be “powered off and out of sight” during the school day but all “tablets, iPods, iPads, smartphones and other electronic devices must be silenced on the bus unless a student uses headphones,” per the student discipline section of the Cornjerkers handbook.
Just one high schooler’s phone was confiscated and turned in to administration this school year, Assistant Principal Patrick Bailey says. But a new policy will kick in come August, one that ends with the device being taken away for the day, a teacher contacting the home and administration issuing discipline for insubordination — for a first offense.
At the middle school, one phone infraction resulted in a parent having to pick up the device. At the high school, another five led to detention, Superintendent Adam Clapp says.
In addition to the usual language, the high school student handbook warns that “school officials may conduct an investigation or requite a student to cooperate in an investigation if there is specific information about activity on the student’s account on a social networking website, cellphone, electronic messaging, etc., that violates a school disciplinary rule of policy.”
The policy in the student handbook is the same, word for word, as in Champaign, Danville and beyond, noting, among other things, that “prohibited conduct specifically includes, without limitation, creating and sending, sharing, viewing, receiving or possessing an indecent visual depiction of oneself or another person through the use of a computer, electronic communication device or cellular telephone, commonly known as ‘sexting.’”
A year after confiscating 24 phones at the junior high and 51 at the high school, Paxton-Buckley-Loda is beefing up its policies. Starting in the fall, junior high students’ “cellphones, smart watches and any personal device will be off and in the students’ book bag from the time the student arrives at school until 3:10 p.m.”
Further, “access to network services (will be) given to students who agree to act in a considerate and responsible manner. Parent permission is required.”
“Our official policy is not out and not on in the classroom,” Principal Todd Wilson says. “For the most part, the students respect the policy, but we have a handful of students who are just so attached to their device that they have to have it in their hands at all times. Our teachers are pretty good about handling the distractions. Students will usually receive an initial warning to put the device away. If they do as they’re asked, there usually isn’t a problem. It’s the kids that don’t follow through that will receive some sort of consequence because of their actions.”
Seventeen high school students made the dreaded “banned” list, which happens after a second offense, Superintendent Phil Cox reports. Violate the policy a third time and the more serious consequences kick in, including in-school or out-of-school suspension.
Twenty of 75 violations this year were for a second offense, which comes with a trip to Saturday school, or beyond, when “the administrator may set up a check-in/check-out system for the phone in addition to a disciplinary consequence,” Superintendent Brian Brooks says.
Strike 1: Device is confiscated with a warning. Strike 2: $10 fine and confiscation. Strike 3: $20 fine, confiscation, detention and the phone is released to a parent or guardian.
“There is very little misuse,” Superintendent Gary Alexander says of a school year that ended with 26 confiscations at the high school and four at the middle school. “If a student is using a cellphone in the classroom, they must bring it to the office for the remainder of the day. On the second offense, they receive a detention, and a parent must come and pick up the phone from the office.”
Phones must be off — “not on silent or vibrate” — during the school day … or else. Forty-five were confiscated this year under a penalty phase that goes from detention (first offense) to Saturday school (second) to the possibility of not bringing a phone to school for the rest of the year (third).
The district confiscated 273 phones this school year, according to figures obtained via open-records request: 199 at the middle school, 71 at the high school and one apiece at King, Thomas Paine and Yankee Ridge elementaries.
High school students find out in September when they’ll be allowed to use phones — and when they won’t. Per Urbana’s handbook, “the instructor shall disseminate the cellphone policy to students and parents the first week of school. Students and parents will need to sign off, acknowledging the instructor’s policy.”
Middle school students “should keep cellphones locked in their lockers or kept at home at all times. … If the student refuses to place their phone in the classroom cellphone locker and has their phone out, then the teacher/staff member may issue a warning, followed by confiscating the phone by placing it in an envelope and turning it into the office” and be kept there until day’s end.
At both schools, phones can be used in the lunchroom and in the hallways during passing periods — “as long as they do not pose a threat to school safety or a disruption to the learning environment.”
With the exception of high school students during lunch hour, “once the student arrives on campus, cellphones are to be left in lockers during the school day and turned off (7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.),” district policy states. Says high school Principal Sara Jones: “I probably didn’t have more than 25 phone violations this year.” Students know better: a third violation means Saturday detention.
Thirty-three phones were confiscated (23 at the high school, 10 at the junior high) for violating a policy that, like Champaign’s, comes with limited exceptions: the teacher grants permission; the device is part of a student’s individualized education program or 504 plan; or it’s needed in “an emergency that threatens the safety of students, staff or other individuals.”
The district’s policy — phones turned off and stored in lockers at the lower levels; up to individual teachers whether they can be used for instructional purposes at the high school — is “enforced uniformly across buildings,” Superintendent Seth Miller says.
The penalties: devices taken and returned at day’s end for the first violation; returned only to a parent or guardian for a second; the latter, plus “progressive discipline consequences” beyond that.
