The Eureka Springs School District is gearing up to enforce a much-talked-about state law involving electronic devices that will be new this upcoming school year.
For the most part, however, changes won’t be that obvious since the district already had most of the same policies in place.
The “Bell To Bell No Cell Act,” is now state law and will be in effect when the new school year starts for Eureka Springs students on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
“That’s the big deal with the new student handbook,” said superintendent Bryan Pruitt, who discussed the issue before the Eureka Springs School Board approved a new student handbook at the board’s monthly meeting on Monday, July 14. “We had to implement the new law from the state about the bell to bell, first bell in the morning to the last bell in the afternoon, no cell phone.
“That’s the huge thing we had to do.”
The policy changes approved were recommended by the Arkansas School Boards Association, Pruitt said.
According to the new law, “no personal electronic device use is allowed for students during the school day, including cell phones, tablets, laptops and smartwatches.”
Increased focus in the classroom, protecting student privacy and reducing bullying and distractions were reasons listed for creating the new law.
Phones must be off and out of sight from the first bell to the last bell, and the rule applies to hallways, classrooms, restrooms and at lunch, according to the new statewide policy.
Some districts have opted to use pouches, such as ones from the company Yondr, to lock phones during the day, but Pruitt said he felt comfortable with continuing the district’s current policy of giving students the freedom to turn off devices and keep them out of sight during restricted times.
“We’re not as drastic in the fact … that some [districts] are doing, where they’re taking the phones up and storing them or whatever,” Pruitt said. “We’re just not doing that. Our policy is ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind.’ You know don’t get it out and we are not going to mess with you. But if you get it out, then you’ve got to, according to handbook policy, the first time [staff] takes the phone, and the second time parents have to come get it.
“Basically, we’re kind of doing it on the honor system. You’re a big boy, big girl, keep your phone put up and don’t use it and there’s no problem.”
While Pruitt said he doesn’t feel phones, tablets and laptops will cause much of an issue, it’s a wait-and-see approach when it comes to smartwatches, which are also included in the policy.
“That’s going to be a learning curve for us on that, for sure,” he said. “We’re just going to have to see how it goes.”
OTHER NEW POLICIES
Other new initiatives recently approved that will go into effect include a new cyber security policy, changing school board members to six-year terms and defining public comments at school board meetings, Pruitt said.
“Starting next month … if you want to comment at the board meeting you come and sign up like 20 to 30 minutes before the meeting and you have to be a parent or a voter in the district,” Pruitt said.
The new policy states that comments cannot be on staff or students, the superintendent said.
“They get three minutes,” Pruitt said of those commenting. “Now, if there’s more than 10 people signed up, after the 10th person, we start our board meeting and then finish up after the meeting is over.”
