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Most Rugby parents respond positively to device-free policy

By Charles Crane - Staff Writer | Aug 17, 2024

A majority of parents of students in the Rugby Public School District support the implementation of a device-free policy, which is being explored by the school board.

Superintendent Mike McNeff presented the results of the survey, which he said found many parents supportive, believing it would reduce distractions, improve academic focus and enhance social interactions.

“If you look throughout the responses, there’s concern about ‘how are you going to enforce it?’ We’ve got some ideas from looking at some other districts and logistical issues. When you have a policy like this, everybody has to enforce. When you have 30 teachers, 50 people in your building, everybody has various levels of buy-in for things. But one person might be a stickler, but everybody has to be on board. That’s something that’s going to be very critical,” McNeff said.

Of the 240 responses to the survey, a significant majority said they were in favor of a device-free policy being implemented. The survey found 57.5% strongly agreed students should be device-free within the building during school hours and 22.9% agreed. The remainder were either neutral, disagreed or strongly disagreed.

The survey also asked respondents to select which were the most important reasons for implementing the policy. Reducing distractions, improving academic focus, enhancing social interaction and reducing cyberbullying garnered the most selections.

Respondents were asked to highlight concerns about the device-free policy, with 99 selecting safety and emergency contact as their primary concern. Twenty said they were concerned about possible negative impacts on their children’s academic performance, and 25 noted possible setbacks for students’ social and emotional wellbeing. Forty-six percent of respondents said they had no concerns, while the remaining options garnered only one vote each.

McNeff said the administration appreciated the concern parents had around contacting students during an emergency, but the administration would take ownership of communicating with parents during such an event.

“If there is a school lockdown, parents want to mediate, ‘is my kid okay?’, to be able to text them and so on. So that’s a concern. Obviously, if there’s an emergency, they want to know. That’s on us, too. I think the district can confirm those things through our messaging system if those kinds of things happen. God forbid anything like that would happen, but we would push out those messages as needed,” McNeff said.

McNeff said components would be implemented for parents to send messages to students through the school office or send emails to the student’s school email.

“I think it’s important to note that we expect kids to do this, then we expect adults to be role models as well. If we have a teacher in the classroom, or sports staff or a custodian, it doesn’t matter. If we aren’t modeling, I can see how that’s unfair,” McNeff said.

Board President Dustin Hager and Vice President Chad Duchscher both said they supported the policy, but Hager couched it by saying that based on his own experience in school in a pre-cell phone world, students can easily find other ways to be distracted.

“So removing the cell phone isn’t going to necessarily translate into improved academic performance. I get what you’re saying. We survived. You survived. We didn’t have email. It’s kind of nostalgic to look back on it because that world doesn’t exist anymore. If you look at what has transpired in the world today that our children are growing up in … the world is completely different. It’s hard in my mind to always draw parallels to the trials and tribulations we went through as youth versus what our children are going through today,” Hager said.

Duchscher said while cell phones have enhanced communication during critical events, their usage has gotten out of hand. This sentiment was echoed by board member Nick Schmaltz, who bemoaned students glued to their devices at lunch hour and the negative opportunities created by the devices to take pictures and videos in bathrooms and locker rooms. McNeff said he recalled texting being an issue in the past, but social media and networking apps have changed the game to an extent beyond what adults today grew up with.

“Schools wind up being the place, whether we like it or not, where we’re trying to fix something in society,” McNeff said.

Draft device-free policy introduced

McNeff presented a draft policy modeled on the policy instituted at Watford City last year, which would prohibit all electronic devices except for school issued Chromebook laptops and headphones/earbuds required for class work. Cell phone usage would only be allowed only if permitted by teachers for activities such as video production or the use of specific apps.

All students would be issued a magnetically sealed Yondr pouch, and all cell phones must be placed and locked inside upon entering the building, including the time before school starts. Students leaving the building would be able to unlock their pouch, but any student seen in possession of a cell phone that is not in a locked pouch will immediately have the phone confiscated and receive consequences.

The draft policy includes a fee of $20 for replacement pouches if students lose their pouches, but alternatively, they would be allowed to leave their phones at home or in the office if they have forgotten the pouch or can’t locate it. Students will be able to access their phones if they leave the building during lunch but must exit and return through the main office.

McNeff said he expected some high school students would leave their phones in their cars, and any student seen with a phone outside of a Yondr pouch would be immediately corrected.

Students requiring medical accommodations, such as insulin monitoring, would receive a medical pouch with prior approval.

Emergency communication would be facilitated through the school secretary or email, and contacting students on their cell phones during school hours would be prohibited.

Any use of cameras or camera phones in locker rooms, washrooms, dressing areas and offices would be prohibited, as it could be a violation of criminal code, and students would be barred from capturing images of any person on school property without written consent from the individual or their parents. Students who violate the device-free policy will receive in-school suspension for the rest of the school day, with no maximum number of occurrences.

The board members identified a number of complications and contradictions within the policy and received statements from two teachers regarding areas where the draft policy could be massaged or improved. Hager asked McNeff to take another crack at the draft policy to address the language and logistical issues raised during the discussion. He also asked that the proposal be shared and discussed with students to prepare them for the implementation of the policy.