This autumn, the school year will look a bit different for students in Manitoba due to a provincial cell phone ban.
“There will be significant changes with personal device use at schools by both students and staff due to a new directive by the province of Manitoba in regards to cell phones in schools,” says Stephen Ross, the superintendent of Western School Division. “The big focus really is just going to be on limiting any kind of use during instructional time.”
For the Western School Division, the approach to the changes begins with adults — including teachers, staff, and visitors — at its schools.
“In our updated policy, we've addressed adults first because we think we are important role models for the kids,” he says. “At our first meeting with school administrators, we actually had them put all their cell phones away. We're going to try and model what [will] be going on in schools and help out the students that way.”
As a part of Western School Division’s new policy guided by the Manitoba-wide directive, staff and visitors to the schools will not be permitted to use cell phones during class time or while supervising students and participating in school events.
For the students, the new rules on personal electronic devices will depend on the age group.
“For grade 9 to 12 students, pretty similar to how our high school operated last year, students may not use cell phones during class time,” says Superintendent Ross. “They can use them at breaks and at lunch, and if there's an educational purpose that the teacher approves, they can use them for that.”
According to Superintendent Ross, the most significant changes come with the kindergarten to grade 8 group.
“For K to 8 students, it’s, in the government’s terms, an outright ban, so K to 8 students are not to be using cell phones from the time school starts until the end of the day when school is over. That includes breaks and recesses,” he says. “For some kids and some families, that will be a significant change.”
There will be some exceptions to the updated policy.
“Of course, like with everything else, there will be accommodations that would support exceptions for medical or learning needs, but those are going to require appropriate authorization and documentation,” says the superintendent.
Superintendent Ross says that students who break the rules surrounding the cell phone ban will face device confiscation, or potentially more severe consequences.
“Students . . . will be asked to relinquish their device until the end of the school day, [and] if they don't do so, parents will be contacted and the students and devices will be going home,” he says.
While some of the changes this year are in response to the province’s directive, the school division had already been tackling the matter of personal electronic device use on its school property.
“The high school did a good job in the last couple of years of working towards really trying to minimize the distraction during class time,” says Superintendent Ross. “That's really the government’s focus on all of this . . . from the meetings we've had recently — to really ensure that kids and their teachers and staff that are working with them are present in the moment. That's the goal of . . . this policy.”
Superintendent Ross notes that a defined cell phone policy is a Canada-wide trend that spans most provincial jurisdictions.
As for implementing the updates at the Western School Division, it’s a team effort.
“It's another school-home connection where people can work together to do the best thing for kids,” he says. “We all have to step in and do our part . . . [to] create a better learning environment for kids.”
Parents and guardians are instrumental in creating a smooth transition into a school year with a few new rules.
“We're asking for parent understanding and support of policy changes,” says Superintendent Ross. “Parents can also help out by preparing their kids for these big changes this fall and not texting them during the school day themselves.”
To review Western School Division’s updated policy on personal electronic devices, see below.
~With files from Robyn Wiebe~