No-phones policy will play out in Coeur d'Alene schools

COEUR d'ALENE — School district leaders agreed to take a wait-and-see approach with newly implemented procedures surrounding the use of cellphones in schools.

Community members gathered Monday night for the regular meeting of the Coeur d’Alene School District board of trustees.

The board discussed policy 3265-P, implemented this week, which states that students may bring personal electronic devices to school but may not use them in the classroom or during passing or lunch periods. Students with disabilities may be allowed to possess and use personal electronic devices as outlined in their specialized education plans.

The meeting came in the wake of a Change.org petition created by Coeur d’Alene High School junior Ryan Drappo, which described the policy as “unreasonable” and called on trustees to reconsider forbidding the use of phones and other devices during passing periods and at lunchtime.

As of Monday night, the petition had garnered more than 1,700 signatures from students, parents and other community members.

“Technological advances since the time you were young in school have changed drastically,” Drappo told trustees. “Today, most people, especially students, socialize through technology. Most students use their phones during these times to communicate with parents and other students about extracurricular activities. Students use these devices as tools.”

Drappo said he believes forbidding students from using their phones at all during the school day doesn’t help them build good habits around phone usage.

“Restricting devices is not a way to raise mature adults,” he said.

Coeur d’Alene High School junior Caleb Torgenson, vice chair of the district’s Student Advisory Group, said the group has been in conversation with administrators about the policy and its implementation and agreed more time is needed to measure the policy’s impact.

“We didn’t realize how heavily the district considered the mental health aspect of the phone policy,” he told the board.

Superintendent Shon Hocker emphasized that students are permitted to keep their phones on their persons, albeit turned off and put away.

“We’re not taking phones,” he said. “We certainly agree, in the event of an emergency, nobody is going to get in trouble for using their phone. Having (phones) on them gives them some peace of mind.”

Trent Derrick, executive director of secondary education for the Coeur d’Alene School District, said administrators considered the impact of devices like cellphones on the mental and social well-being of students. He pointed to studies that showed a “strong correlation” between screen time and heightened rates of anxiety, depression and social isolation in teenagers.

“These are concerning trends,” he said. “Our decision to implement this cellphone procedure is grounded in the belief that we want our students to be both socially and mentally healthy. We also want them to be competitive and prepared for the workplace.”

Trustee Leslie Bjerke noted that the policy and associated procedure is not meant to be punitive and said time will tell if the impact is positive.

“I’m really hopeful that this is going to be a really positive thing,” she said. “We want the best for our students. We want them academically strong. We want them mentally strong.”

The board is expected to revisit the policy and its implementation in April.