Howard County residents provide feedback on proposed cellphone ban in school district

BALTIMORE -- The Howard County community got to weigh in on a proposed cellphone ban in the school district on Wednesday, nearly a month after the Board of Education postponed a vote on a draft of the ban.     

Support for a ban

The proposed policy would require elementary and middle school students to keep devices away and silent during the school day.

High school students wouldn't be allowed to have these devices out during class either but would be allowed in non-instructional times.

Only nine people spoke at the hearing, which included teachers, parents, and one student.

Several of the teachers talked about the need for stronger consequences, like confiscation, which isn't explicitly allowed currently. The new policy would reverse this.

Zack Dickerson, who teaches at Howard High School, talked about a policy where students put their cellphones in an envelope, which worked well at first, but has since stopped working.

"Students began to ignore the envelopes and simply not use them. The reason for this was due to the fact there was no consequence for not using the envelopes," Dickerson said. "There are currently some schools using confiscation as a consequence and those schools are having a lot of success. Students are more focused and staff morale is significantly higher."

Cat Carter, a mother of five who also spoke in support of a ban, said cellphones aren't only a distraction in class, but they are also used for bullying.

"There have been instances where photographs have been taken of students in the classroom. They've been modified through AI and they have been widely spread throughout the school. The mental impact of that is real," Carter said.

Still maintaining access

In a survey taken by parents, students, and staff in the school district, most agreed that students need access to cellphones at certain times.

In the new policy, students could get authorization to use cellphones in certain situations.

Long Reach High School sophomore Gavin Falcon said this needs to be in whatever policy is adopted by the board.

"I'm a child, like many other kids, of divorced parents," Falcon said. "Due to this, I never had a set schedule, my housing situation was always constantly in the air. I needed to be in constant communication with my parents to react, discuss, and figure out simply what bus I'm taking home."

It's unclear when the Board of Education will vote on this, but its next meeting is on Jan. 16.

If approved, the policy goes into effect on Jan. 24, which is the first day of the second semester.