With the start of school coming on Sept. 3 the Prince Albert Catholic School Division board of education has put in place a draft policy around cell phones.
Cell phones will not be permitted during class time across K-12 schools in Saskatchewan starting in the 2024-25 school year. Because of the announcement by the province on Aug. 6 the board passed a policy in principle at their regular meeting on Monday.
Director of Education Lorel Trumier said the temporary policy was put in place so the division could get feedback from parents and students.
“It’s approved in principle, which means that we will use that to guide our processes to for the first week or so here as we move forward, allowing me some time to work with our administrators and our staff and we’ll get some feedback,” Trumier said.
During the meeting Trumier, noted that it was abnormal for her to ask the board to complete a policy on such short notice.
She said there may be changes to the draft policy as students and families return and feedback is collected.
“Obviously, this is a new policy. We haven’t had the same process time as we always have on them. But we do want to meet the needs of our students and staff, while aligning our policy to the Ministry’s directives,” Trumier said.
The matter was not on the agenda for the Catholic School Division board of education’s first meeting on Monday, but in an interview last week, Trumier said the item could be added because the province made their announcement after the board package was completed.
Trumier said in the meeting that with the Aug. 6 announcement and the policy having to be in place on Sept. 3 the division has not had a chance to get feedback.
“I think the timeline is the piece here that we are trying to mitigate and I’m confident we’ll get to a good place,” she said.
The temporary policy outlines the directive from the Ministry of Education and the board approved that in principle.
“We will see where that takes us and it is important we do communicate it well,” Trumier said.
These new measures will apply to all Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools in the province.
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.
According to Trumier, students can already use devices if appropriate and approved by administration.
Trumier said that most people understand the need for the policy and the intent to make the learning environment as positive as possible without distractions.
“We want to optimize our time with our students and have our teachers teaching so both students and staff are subject to making sure that (learning) is happening and we will try to communicate that effectively to all groups,” Trumier said
Trumier added that the province’s announcement aligns with the division’s goals to optimize learning with both students and staff.
She said there may be a few tweaks to what the division does, but does not expect it to be abrupt changes because students are already expected to be respectful of class time.
“I’m anticipating that we’ll be able to work through this efficiently and effectively,” Trumier said. “We just need a little bit of time with everyone to be working toward it.”
The policy passed unanimously. Board chair Suzanne Stubbs and trustee Andrea Ring were absent, so vice chair Pat Hordyski acted as chair for the meeting.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
