Alexandria kids with new smart watches won’t be able to wear them when they get back to school from winter break.
The School Board recently approved tightened guidelines on the use of wireless connected personal mobile devices within schools. The Board essentially banned cell phone and tablet use at the beginning of this school year, and the new regulations align more closely with a July executive order from Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
One of the biggest changes in the policy is that smart watches, which were previously approved in all schools, can no longer be worn by students. Students caught breaking the rules will face suspension and expulsion, according to the policy.
The Board voted 8-1 to approve the changes, with Member Abdel Elnoubi dissenting.
“We changed the policy year about a year-and-a-half ago to what we have now,” Elnoubi said. “And now this is driven by the VDOE and the governor’s advice. How’s the current policy working for us, because we put a policy that we felt works for us, right?”
ACPS student representative Zeina Yassin told the Board that students want their phones because they don’t feel safe at Alexandria City High School, and said that adults within the building should be held by the same standard.
“We have teachers that that we see that go on their phones during our class, and I think it’s a hard ask,” Yassin said. “We feel like the security at Alexandria City High School, if you can reach the what we feel is safe for our school, and what we feel makes us safe, and I think if we see that translated to the security guards throughout the whole school, I feel like we would feel more comfortable not having our phones out during class and not having the need to contact our parents or whatnot.”
ACPS student representative Nixon Perez Orozco also told the Board that students don’t feel safe, and that security in the building are on phones, walk with students between classes and otherwise act like children.
“We don’t feel safe at the school,” he said. “I invite you guys, everyone who wants to come to the school, walk to the first floor, second floor and third floor and see how different kids behave on each floor, and security guards as well. They act like a child, literally. They are not doing their job.”
ACPS Chief Operating Officer Alicia Hart thanked the students for the input, and said that many security officers in the school are being required to undergo additional training.
“If you or any other student is experiencing challenges with security, I invite you to please have that conversation with me directly so I can then work with those security officers for sure they are maintaining the activity that we hold for them at all schools,” Hart said. “With that said, I also do not want to disparage that group, because the security officers that I have seen at the high schools and other schools are hard-working. They are dedicated to their jobs, and sometimes when they are walking with students is because they’ve been encouraged to actually build relationships with the students that they are tasked with protecting.”
Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt said that the school system, not students, should be responsible for contacting parents. She also said that students with phones could send “information that is not accurate” back to their parents.
“I think the goal is about the safety,” Key-Wyatt said. “I want to say to parents, let us manage the inside of that facility to ensure that it’s safe. If there’s a matter or something that they need to get to their their child, a message or something, there’s always the office who could take care of that matter for them.”
School Board Member Ashley Simpson Baird said that the new rules will improve the educational environment in the school system.
“What we’re asking you to do is hard,” Simpson Baird said. “It would be hard for any of us to not have our phones with us for the entirety for me, the entirety of my work day, that would be difficult. And so I just want to acknowledge that this is a big ask.”
Member Chris Harris said that the rollout of the policy will be difficult.
“We are so distracted by technology, and I’m hoping that not only does it minimize the distractions, it adds to the educational experience, but it allows you to engage more and have real relationships, conversations, engagement with people,” he said. “I’m looking forward to see how this rolls out. It is going to be difficult. I totally understand that there will be challenges, but we ask that parents, families, students work with us, because we’re doing it for the right reasons.”
The amended policy
All ACPS students are still allowed to use personal mobile devices on school buses, and outside their school buildings before and after school. However, Alexandria City High school students are now not allowed to use their phones, tablets or smart watches between classes inside a building, in recess, or at lunch. They are still allowed to use the devices while moving between campuses on school buses.
While acknowledging that smart phones, watches and personal tablets are part of life for students, language has been removed from the original policy stating that the devices “are increasingly important as an instructional tool in their educational program.”
The phones can’t be on a student’s person, like in their pocket, but can be stored in a backpack, a school locker, or a designated place in a classroom, like in a teacher’s drawer. Students with health exceptions will need to be approved by the school nurse coordinator, the director of student services or a designee of the superintendent.
According to ACPS:
ACPS has established communications procedures to ensure students and families are able to be in contact during the school day for events such as a student needing to attend an appointment, a planned early dismissal, or simply a forgotten lunch. Students and families should reach out to the school’s front office to assist with the contact…
If a parent decides that an elementary school student should bring a cell phone or personal 147 electronic communication device to school, the device must be turned off and stored away from 148 the student during the school day and when they are with a staff member.
