The school board voted 5–0 Tuesday to require students to seal their phones in magnetic pouches during the school day, joining a national wave of districts betting that learning improves when the phones stop winning.
The policy took effect at 8:14 p.m. By roughly 8:40, according to multiple parents in attendance, students in the back rows had established a working message relay using their district-issued graphing calculators, a technology the policy does not name and the students' grandparents used for the same purpose.
“The pouches address the phone,” said sophomore class president Willa Trejo, who attended the meeting for extra credit and stayed, she said, “for the show.” “The pouches do not address the ingenuity.”
Superintendent Dana Whitfield called the policy “a strong first step” and acknowledged the calculator situation “evolved faster than anticipated.” A revised definition of “device” is expected in September. The students are expected to read it more carefully than the board did.
Parents at comment were broadly supportive, with reservations about pickup logistics. “I text my son where I'm parked,” said one mother. “Under this policy I will simply never see him again.”
Colleen Vasquez covers town government and, evidently, an arms race.