The Prince Albert Catholic School Division has finalized their new cell phone in classrooms policy.
The policy called “Responsible Use of Electronic Devices” received formal approval from the board of education at their regular meeting on Monday. Students have not been permitted to use cell phones during class time since the start of the K-12 school year. The Catholic School Board approved a policy in principle during a meeting in August, but wanted more feedback before making it official.
Director of education Lorel Trumier said developing a policy in midsummer when there was no one in school added a level of complexity to implementing it.
“We had to develop something for the start of school so our model was to take our first best approach at creating a policy that supports our students and staff in their buildings to do what they need to do,” Trumier said.
The cell phone ban applies to all Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools in the province. However, in Grades 9 to 12 teachers can seek an exemption from administration to allow cell phone use by students during class when needed for a specific instructional purpose.
The temporary policy outlined the directive from the Ministry of Education and the board approved it in principle.
The basic guideline requires students and staff to put personal electronic devices out of sight and on silent during instructional time and class time unless otherwise pre-approved.
Instructional use of electronic devices for educational outcomes must be pre-approved by a principal.
At the school level, the policy will be developed by principals and communicated to staff, students, and families in the Student Handbook at the beginning of the school year. The policy at the school level may be updated.
The principal is expected to conduct an annual review before each school year. Discipline and consequences for inappropriate use remain at the school’s discretion, according to the Education Act.
Medical and learning accommodation will be decided on a case-by-case basis. Students and staff requiring use of their personal device during instructional time must seek permission from their teacher or principal to make arrangements.
There are safety measures in place for teachers who may need electronic devices for emergency purposes. Staff may use their personal devices for school safety procedures such as attendance, class field trips and emergencies such as calls for assistance during supervision.
Trumier said the process took some time because it required feedback, which resulted in some adjustments.
“There was a few pieces that we had to address just to make sure everyone was clear about how that could work,” she explained. “Of course, (it’s) all with the aim of improving instructional time for students. That’s really the biggest piece here. The biggest gain is to preserve the instructional time.”
There are safety measures in place for teachers who may need electronic devices for emergency purposes. Staff may use their personal devices for school safety procedures such as attendance, class field trips and emergencies such as calls for assistance during supervision.
“We need to have them (staff) be able to do their jobs, and we know that, for example, on field trips they need to be able to have a link to other services to support them in case something was to happen,” Trumier explained. “We needed to make sure that it was clear they could do that.”
Trumier said she did not think that staff would have doubted they could use a device for an emergency but the policy makes clear that student safety is a priority.
The policy was developed to align with the Ministry of Education’s guidelines and the Centre for Trauma Informed Policy was also a guiding organization.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
