ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – After approving a new cellphone policy back in August, Orange County Public Schools now wants to hear from parents, students and teachers about the new policy’s impacts.
The new policy prohibits students from using their cellphones during the school day. Cellphones must be silenced and put away in a backpack or purse. However, there are exceptions for students who need their devices to monitor their health conditions.
Last week, OCPS sent out surveys to teachers and parents asking for feedback on the new policy. On Dec. 15, a third survey will be made available for students unless their parents have opted their student out of taking the survey.
OCPS Chief Communications Officer Scott Howat said it’s important to hear from all three groups.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
“Feedback is critical,” Howat said. “The only way that we really know whether something is working or is in line with where our community is, where our school communities are, is to get that feedback.”
Howat said he has received positive feedback from students and teachers about the new policy.
“Anecdotally, we’ve heard from schools, from principals, teachers just saying that they’ve seen a reduction in in-school disturbances as a result of cellphones,” Howat said. “Whether that’s bullying or fights, a lot of social media activity takes place at school, which leads to conflict, and they’ve seen a decrease in that. Of course, it’s anecdotal. We’ll be gathering that data and taking that back to the board as well.”
Howat said they’ve also seen an increase in grades and participation.
“I haven’t spoken to a teacher or a principal who doesn’t really appreciate the policy the way it is now and the fact that they’re able to enforce the use of phones,” Howat said. “Students are more focused on class or how engaging with their peers as well as with the adults.”
Howat said he has spoken to several schools about the cellphone policy’s impact. Timber Creek High School is seeing increased engagement among students after putting out different yard games for kids to play during breaks.
“Now, because the phones are away, they’re engaging with each other, they’re doing some fun activities, things that they haven’t done before,” Howat said. “Pickleball is something that’s happening at Timber Creek where they’re doing pickleball tournaments.”
While there have been a lot of positive impacts, Howat said he can understand why some might like to see some changes to the policy.
“A lot of them want to you know, they want to interact on social media during their free time,” Howat said. “They want to interact, and certainly that’s come out in some of the discussions with students. I think they feel like this is our time to catch up and to see what’s happening on social media. So there is you know, there is two sides of that.”
Howat said for the most part, parents have been supportive of the policy, but he added that some do have concerns over student safety.
“I think their biggest concern is during an emergency situation, having access to the cellphone,” Howat said. “But every classroom has a phone, every student will have their phone in their backpack, in the classroom. They’re not required to put it away or keep it in their locker, so they’ll have access to it.”
Howat said the parent and teacher surveys are currently active and the student survey will be sent out on Dec. 15. All three surveys close on Dec. 21.
For more information on those surveys, click here.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: