'Huge distraction': Local student trustees support classroom cellphone ban

Algoma District School Board administrators introduced an updated draft Code of Conduct for students, staff and teachers at the board’s most recent meeting Tuesday.

A key item contained within the updated draft Code of Conduct relates to restrictions on student use of cell phones in the board’s classrooms.

The document reads “all members of the ADSB and its school communities must store personal mobile devices out of view and powered off or set to silent mode during instructional time.”

INSIDE THE VILLAGE: What you really need to know about school cellphone 'ban'

There are exceptions to the rule that allow cell phones to be used for education purposes as directed by a teacher, for health and medical purposes or to support special education needs.

The ADSB already had directives in place about cell phone use in schools but the updated draft Code of Conduct reflects recent Ministry of Education directives on cell phone use.

Minister of Education Stephen Lecce announced in late April that starting in September, students from Kindergarten to Grade 6 will now be required to keep their phones on silent and out of sight for the duration of the school day while students in Grades 7 to 12 will see their cell phone use banned during class time.    

ADSB student trustees told the board that the ban on cell phone use in the classrooms is needed.

“In high school it seems like everyone can’t take their eyes off them,” said Andrew Vair, a student trustee and Superior Heights Collegiate student.

“They always have them on in front of them. Whether you have a pencil case that’s blocking it from the teacher’s view or your head’s down, the teacher knows exactly what you’re doing. I feel like, in general, it’s really tough for the teachers to be able to do anything about this other than send them down to the office, which rarely happens, but I think most everyone in class has their phone on,” Vair said.

“Phones in a classroom are a huge distraction not only because students can’t get off them but I also feel that for some people it causes major anxiety, because there is internet bullying,” said Desirae Schell-Migwans, the board’s Indigenous student trustee and Superior Heights student.

“When I’m in class and paying attention I hear the teachers repeat themselves almost 10 times because a student is sitting there with a phone and they’re saying ‘what did you say?’ I think this (ban on cell phone during instructional time) is something that’s needed in classrooms,” Schell-Migwans told the board.

“It’s not a whole lot different (than existing rules),” said Joe Maurice, ADSB superintendent of education in an interview with SooToday after Tuesday’s board meeting, referring to the proposed ban on cell phone use during instructional time.

“Currently the use of cell phones is regulated by the teacher in the classroom and that sits in our board’s use of technology policy. What this does is embed that in the Code of Conduct. We have three reasons they can have them for use during instructional time, for instruction as directed by the teacher, for special education needs or medical purposes. Essentially it lays out the three reasons why they can be used. Before it was under the direction of the teacher, it wasn’t sitting in the Code of Conduct,” Maurice said.

Maurice told the board there are measures in place that can be used to enforce the ruling on cell phones. He said at Korah Collegiate, for example, each classroom has a hanging wall unit where students can hang their cell phones during class.

While in agreement with the updated proposed Code of Conduct, ADSB trustees said rules regarding technology will be difficult to enforce as new technology rapidly emerges.

“With artificial intelligence it’s not going to get easier, it's going to get harder. There are smartwatches. It’ll be interesting to see how it rolls out and how the enforcement will be on a consistent basis throughout Ontario,” said trustee Nick Apostle.

“It’s like everything else. We just need to continue to work at education. We need to say what’s the purpose of the cell phone, when do we use it, when do we not use it, and I think that’s a lifelong skill. When is it a tool, when is it entertainment, when is it best to put it away?” Maurice told SooToday.

The issue of cell phones in the classroom comes as five Ontario school boards and two private schools have become the latest to launch a multibillion-dollar legal fight against social media giants Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

The boards say their parent companies have burdened teachers with managing students’ use of what they say are addictive social media platforms.

As of now, none of the local school boards have said they plan to join the lawsuits.

The Code of Conduct presented Tuesday also contains a ban on the presence and use within schools of e-cigarettes or vapes, commonly known as vaping.

Though that ban was already in place, student trustee Vair emphasized it is needed.

Vair said that the use of vapes by some students is tough on teachers and other students.

“I know it makes the teachers crazy when on their lunch duties they’re sitting outside a washroom the entire time making sure that there isn’t an insane amount of students crammed in one packed stall passing around a vape. Our VP at Superior Heights is constantly running around the school trying to track down these kids in general. I think it’s making everybody a little bit crazy. As a student I’m having trouble finding a washroom that’s empty throughout the day. Everyone’s been affected by it in some way or another. It took our school by storm,” Vair said.

There will be degrees of penalization in place for those who violate the current and proposed new rules on cell phone use and vaping.

“Consequences will be determined by the Principal or Vice-Principal. The Principal or Vice-Principal will apply a progressive discipline approach to consider a range of responses, based on mitigating and contextual circumstances to address the behaviour,” Maurice told SooToday.

The proposed updated Code of Conduct reads:

All ADSB employees and members of school communities must not:

• be in possession of alcohol, cannabis (unless the individual has been authorized to use cannabis for medical purposes) and illegal drugs (including prescription drugs which are not prescribed for the person)
• be in possession of electronic cigarette, tobacco and nicotine products
• use or be under the influence of alcohol, cannabis (unless the individual has been authorized to use cannabis for medical purposes), tobacco, electronic cigarettes, illegal drugs or related products
• provide others with alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, electronic cigarettes, or cannabis (unless the recipient is an individual who has been authorized to use cannabis for medical purposes) and related products
• inflict or encourage others to inflict bodily harm on another person
• engage in hate propaganda and other forms of behaviour motivated by hate or bias
• commit an act of vandalism that causes damage to school property, to property located on the premises of the school or the property of a member of the school community
• record, take or share non-consensual recordings or photos of members of the school community or disregard public health guidelines or directives

The updated draft Code of Conduct was accepted by trustees as an information item at Tuesday’s meeting and is expected to be approved by trustees at the next board meeting June 11.

However, approval won’t come without some changes to the document.

There will be some revisions made for the use of tobacco in Indigenous ceremonies in schools.

“There’s Indigenous use of tobacco. That needs to be clear,” Maurice said.