Cellphones must be turned off in N.S. classrooms starting this fall
The announcement follows meetings with a variety of groups in recent months
The Nova Scotia government has unveiled a new cellphone policy to take effect in schools across the province starting this fall.
Students in elementary schools will be required to turn their phones off and keep them out of sight throughout the school day. Junior and senior high students will be required to have their devices off and out of sight during class time, unless their teacher is incorporating their use as part of classroom instruction.
Phone use will be permitted in junior and senior high schools when students are not in class.
The government is hoping that a provincewide directive from the Education Department will help back up teachers during the coming school year when the changes take effect. Individual schools could have firmer rules, if they so choose, according to a source.
The changes would be reassessed at the end of next school year.
According to the province, teachers may ask students who don't comply with the policy to leave their phone with the teacher in a secure location.
"If a student is not willing to follow direction, the principal or vice-principal does have the authority to ask them to surrender their phone until a parent or guardian is contacted," the provincial website reads.
Education Minister Becky announced last month that she and officials in her department were looking at a new provincewide policy for cellphone and device use in public schools. The announcement Thursday is the culmination of meetings and consultation with a variety of groups.
Clayton Park Junior High in Halifax banned cellphones at the beginning of this school year. Principal Trina Canavan said it made a difference.
"Every time we looked at an incident both in the classroom and on the school grounds, it always stemmed from social media," Canavan explained.
"And when we really peeled back the layer of why did we get to a certain point, say, in the code of conduct or dealing with a situation or an incident in the classroom, it started with the cellphone on social media or back and forth text messaging, Snapchat, those types of things."
Canavan attributed the success of the ban to communicating the rationale behind it to students and their families. As a result, she said students are more social with one another and with staff.
Deveshwar Sivarajkumar, a Grade 8 student at CPJH, said the ban has been a good thing this year.
"I see that there's been a better classroom environment, and there's more student focus and achievement. Students are not on their phones all the time, and students can, like, actually listen to what they're doing in class so they don't have to miss out on what the teacher says," Sivarajkumar said.
Sivarajkumar said he hasn't noticed much pushback to the phone ban.
Lujain Eldatie, another Grade 8 student at CPJH, said the basketball courts and soccer field are being used more now because of the ban.
"At school it's actually a lot better because people focus more and they find something else to do," Eldatie said.
"So because they leave their phones, they meet new people and interact with them, and because they meet new people, when they go on the bus they don't need their phones anymore. Or when they're home, they like to spend time with their friends."
Not just a school-hours problem
Nova Scotia Teachers Union president Ryan Lutes has previously said cellphones in class are "a distraction for students and they're a classroom management nightmare for teachers," although he cautioned that some teachers have found ways to incorporate them into their learning plans.
Lutes has also noted that problems with young people and cellphone use extend beyond classrooms, and that those conversations also need to happen for the benefit of young people.
"There are now pretty significant negative impacts and I think [as a] society, we need to get our heads wrapped around that," he said in an interview last month.
"It's not just a problem between 9 and 5 and school hours."
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With files from Jean Laroche
