One of New Jersey’s largest school districts has approved a new cellphone policy preventing students from using them in class or while riding the bus.
The Toms River Regional Board of Education voted 7-0 Wednesday night to prohibit personal use of electronic communications devices on school grounds during the academic day, including during activities and programs taking place before or after classes.
By extending the restriction to school buses, it appears to go a step beyond the bell-to-bell recommendation from a state commission exploring the effects of social media usage on students. Bell-to-bell means prohibiting cellphone use during the entire academic day, from when students arrive until they leave.
Toms River Regional’s new policy covers a wide range of devices: cell phones, pagers, beepers, laptop computers, watches, electronic readers, two-way radios, audio or video broadcasting devices, ear buds, tablets and headphones.
“We are just memorializing the procedures we have always done,” Toms River Regional Superintendent Michael Citta told the Asbury Park Press after the policy was introduced in October.
“They are not allowed out during instruction. It is a lot easier for everyone in the classrooms not to have them out,” Citta said, according to the newspaper.
Board members did not comment on the policy before voting.
Toms River Regional has 18 schools, including three high schools and three middle schools, and enrolls approximately 15,000 students from Toms River, Beachwood, Pine Beach and South Toms River. It was the state’s sixth-largest school district as of five years ago.
Toms River Regional is the latest district to adopt a cellphone policy amid discussions of a statewide restriction. The school board in Jersey City, New Jersey’s second-largest city, approved a policy prohibiting cellphones and other personal communications devices in classrooms starting Oct. 1.
State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin recently told NJ Advance Media that he would support a bell-to-bell ban, though the Legislature has not proceeded with a vote and the current session ends Jan. 20.
A statewide policy in New York that took effect in September bars unsanctioned use of cellphones and other devices for the entire school day.
Many of New Jersey’s approximately 600 public school districts already restrict cellphone use in classrooms but the policies and punishments vary. Some require students to keep their phones off and out of sight, while others provide locations for the devices to be stored during the school day.
The new policy in Toms River Regional, similar to policies elsewhere, includes exceptions for students with disabilities or health issues.
It says that students are “encouraged” not to bring electronic communications devices to school. But, if they do, the devices must be turned off and stored in a backpack, book bag or locker.
Any students wanting to contact their parent must request permission from a staff member to go to the main office to use the school phone. Parents needing to contact their child should contact the main office.
Penalties range from a written warning for a first offense, one-day detention for a second offense and removal from regular classes for one day via an alternative education program for a third offense.
