SB178 bars students from using smartphones, smartwatches and other “emerging technology” during class. School districts will still have the authority to allow students to use smart devices during “classroom hours,” but would have to create policies to do so.
Gov. Spencer Cox signed that bill into law Tuesday. It goes into effect July 1.
The Park City School District Board of Education adopted a no-cellphone policy in August. Under the policy, Ecker Hill Middle School students must keep their phones in their backpacks, while a pilot program at Treasure Mountain Junior High keeps student phones stored in magnetically locked pouches.
Park City High School doesn’t have an official policy. It was initially left up to teachers, but Superintendent Lyndsay Huntsman asked the Park City High Student Council to brainstorm a proposal to comply with district and legislative policies.
“Ninth grade might need to be different with 10th, 11th and 12th grade, because now you're talking about students who have cars, they have the ability to leave campus, there's a safety concern,” she said on KPCW’s Local News Hour March 20. “So, we are taking that into consideration as we consider, how do we evolve our policy to actually make sure it's being implemented?”
Senior Quinn McLaughlin told the board of education last week that the council surveyed 576 students to gauge what kind of policy would be best.
McLaughlin said almost 85% said cellphone use during class was not a problem at the high school and 81% were against a school-wide policy. That’s compared to a previous district survey which found 85% of staff and teachers supported a cellphone ban.
McLaughlin said most students also dislike magnetically locking pouches, although 52% said it would be a good idea to use the pouches as a punishment.
After gathering the data, the student council came up with a recommendation.
“We believe that all teachers should be given a phone pouch holder to hang on their walls, and attendance should be taken by looking at the phones,” McLaughlin said.
If a student doesn’t put their device in the phone holder the student would be marked absent. For multiple offenses, McLaughlin said students would have to keep their phone in a magnetically locked pouch for the day as punishment.
Caleb Fine, who will be the new Park City High principal in the fall, will consider the recommendation. A new policy will likely be implemented next school year.
