B.C. school districts finalizing plans to restrict cellphone use

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Some students could experience big changes come September as B.C. school districts develop policies to comply with a provincial order to restrict cellphones in schools, while others notice very little difference at all.

In Mission, for example, Grade 9 students will be forced to put away their phones at lunch, as the district plans to prohibit them in both elementary and middle schools, which go from Grade 7 to 9. In other districts, the ban applies only to elementary schools, where parents say many kids don’t have phones or don’t use them at recess.

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“It’s going to be really interesting to see how it’s interpreted and what it actually looks like in practice,” said Jacquelyn Wickham, chairwoman of the Mission district parent advisory committee.

School districts across B.C. are finalizing plans for September, when the provincial government will require them to have a policy restricting cellphones.

On Monday, Vancouver trustees voted for a policy that requires elementary students to keep their phones silent and out of sight during the school day, including recess and lunch. The school board hasn’t yet developed a policy for high school students, but continues to work with stakeholders, according to a statement.

“I don’t think it changes the status quo very much,” said Patti Bacchus, former chairwoman of the Vancouver school board and an education advocate. “It’s really a bit of a nothing burger.”

Surrey’s updated policy is similar in that it expects digital devices to be “put away during non-class time such as recess and lunch” in elementary schools, while clarifying they can be used in class at the direction of a teacher. The same is true in high school, although students can use their phones during breaks. Burnaby’s policy is the same.

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Enforcement, by and large, will be left in the hands of teachers or schools to determine.

“When I hear the words ‘cellphone ban’ I roll my eyes,” said Bacchus. “It’s very easy to make these rules, but someone has to enforce them.”

Vancouver parent Kyenta Martins said she’s noticed most elementary kids don’t have phones, and those that do have a valid reason. She agreed teachers were in the best position to determine when students should be allowed to use a phone as a learning or accessibility tool, but recognized it “puts more work on them.”

“Good luck with that,” she said, when asked if she thought the district should try to limit phone use outside of class time in high school.

Bonnie McBride, head of the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, pointed out the broad differences in access to technology across the province. Policies will need to work for students in rural areas, who may not have internet access at home, as well as those in urban areas, who could take several different forms of public transportation to get home.

“Our expectation as parents is that they’ll meet every student where they’re at,” she said.

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Simon Fraser University professor Jillian Roberts said the province’s plan to restrict cellphones is well-intentioned and necessary, as they’ve proven to be a significant distraction in schools, but she’s unsure that a “black-and-white policy will work well.”

She questioned if a ban could be enforced and what position it might put teachers in if they were forced to “police” hallways or confiscate phones. She also pointed to all the ways phones have become integral and helpful to education.

“So far, phones have not always been used responsibly, but if, as a society, we could teach kids to use them responsibly, it would be of higher value than simply banning them,” she said.

While the policies being passed by B.C. school boards read slightly different, many contain similar themes, such as the expectation that phones will be put away during recess and lunch in elementary schools, with exceptions around their use for health, accessibility and translation reasons.

The policies established so far for high school are more relaxed during non-class time, with devices allowed in class at the discretion of teachers.

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The policies also contain expectations around online conduct, including bullying and harassment, discrimination and defamation of character.

gluymes@postmedia.com

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