|Photo by Joselyn King| Ohio County Schools Superintendent Kim Miller, left, and Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones discuss matters at Monday's board of education meeting.
WHEELING – Teachers in Ohio County Schools report they’ve seen students talking, listening to music or doing other things on their cell phones while in class, and they are looking to administration for help in stopping phone use in the classroom.
The issue was discussed during this week’s meeting of the Ohio County Board of Education.
“There have been several teachers who have made recommendations to (Wheeling Park High School Principal Meredith) Dailer and her administrative team, and she has brought that to the central office,” Superintendent Kim Miller told the board. “I also received input from (school board member David) Croft and others about having a phone-free zone where children/students would not have access to using their phone in the classroom. We do not want to have distractions in the classroom.
“By eliminating that piece of technology in class, we think that would enhance learning at Wheeling Park High School.”
There will be a private meeting Thursday of the key stakeholders of the Local School Improvement Council, faculty senate and department chairs, as well as the school’s administrative team to discuss the creation of a new student cell phone policy.
Croft has written a preliminary draft of the policy to be considered, Miller continued. She told the board she will bring the policy before the board after it is finalized.
She added that she and Dailer have been discussing the policy, and they are considering creating a space for a box in each classroom where students would place their phones at the start of each class period.
This would also provide teachers the ability to take the box with them if they move their class to the Innovative Learning Center or elsewhere for a day.
The YONDR company also has been contacted by Ohio County Schools, the makers of a bag that magnetically seals cell phones when needed.
“If you would break that rule (the classroom box rule), you would be told to put your phone in the bag, and you would not have access to it until the end of the school day,” Miller explained. “You (the student) would go to a place – most likely a student management place – and have it demagnetized and have your phone at the end of the school day.
“Those kids would not have access to their phone between classes or during lunch when all their friends have it.”
The movement to ban cell phone use in the classroom “has grown from the grassroots up,” she continued.
“We want to help them (teachers) to enhance their teaching and learning, and we know what’s going on at the high school,” Miller said. “We know that cell phones can be a problem, as well as social media, so we want to be able to support them moving forward.”
Board member Pete Chacalos – a retired teacher – noted he could foresee “15 phones (in the box) going off at the same time.”
“I see part of the practice being silencing your phone before you put it into the box,” Miller said. “We want to be able to do this in such a way we can start the school year on the right foot.
“We’ll most likely bring this back at our next board meeting. We want to be able to support the teacher and our administration, and we think this will be a way to help students enhance their education.”
She noted grants are available to help purchase the magnetic phone bags.
The priority is not to strike a deal with YONDR, but to get phones out of classrooms, according to Croft.
“In my mind, two terrible things happen (with phones in the classroom),” he said. “One is, kids can’t be expected to learn if they are listening or watching their phones. They are listening to music, watching a movie or they are bullying each other.
“Two, I think it’s terribly disrespectful to the teachers. They prep, and they work hard to teach these kids – and they (students) are someplace else. We owe it to both of those stakeholders to create something where the phones aren’t used.”
If the school district opts for YONDR, “that’s fine,” he continued.
“I’m sure there are other good ideas and solutions,” Croft said. “We can have the CTE build some kind of shelving to stick the phones into there.
“The money side of it is less of a concern to me. Our community is demanding better results on test scores. I think we get better test scores if we actually have teachers teaching to children who are listening.”
Board member Molly Aderholt said school districts across the nation have seen good results after banning cellphone use from the classrooms.
“Just getting social media out of the school – especially for young girls – can help with mental health issues,” she explained.
Aderholt indicated she doesn’t think the school district needs to take phones from students “for the whole day.”
“I can’t imagine kids sitting in class watching a movie or listening to music on their phones,” she said.
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