It’s been a year since Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) updated its policies on student use of electronic devices and began testing digital hallway passes, both of which have been a huge success.

At the start of the 2023-24 school year, LPS decided to implement new cell phone policies districtwide. In middle school, cell phones must be turned off and out of sight during the entire school day (8 a.m. to 3 p.m.). High school students must keep their phones turned off during class, but are allowed to use them between classes and during lunch.

Additionally, a digital hall pass system has been implemented at all LPS high schools and piloted at two middle schools. Each student can request three hall passes per day using their school-provided laptop. Teachers can approve these requests electronically, limiting classroom disruption.

As summer vacation came to a close this week for students in grades K-12 across Lincoln, KLIN News spoke with Irving Middle School Principal Rachael Kluck-Spann, who had nothing but good things to say about these two recent policy changes.

“It’s really impacted our school culture and our students’ focus on learning,” Kluck-Spann said. “Students aren’t on their devices when they’re eating lunch or on recess, in the hallways or even in class. They’re discussing. They’re writing. They’re engaged in whatever the teacher asks them to do.”

LPS staff also welcomed the district-wide implementation of these new policies, as many students change schools throughout the year.

Irving was one of the pilot middle schools for the new digital hall pass program, which was expanded to all LPS middle schools for the 2024-25 school year.

“We’re just thrilled,” Kluck-Spann put it simply. “It’s really great for our school… before, students had to raise their hand and ask if they could leave the classroom, and teachers had to pause class and monitor the number of students leaving the classroom at any given time… and kids are kids, so sometimes they don’t really need to go to the bathroom, they want a way to get out of class or just take a break.”

The system is set up so that no more than 2% of the total student body can use a digital hall pass at any given time. Students cannot use these passes during the first and last 10 minutes of class.

“When the teacher sees that a restroom is ‘green,’ it means that the place the student wants to go to is open. The student then leaves the restroom. When he returns, he completes his visit. So very little teaching time is lost,” explains Kluck-Spann.

Of course, Kluck-Spann made clear, teachers would also use their professional judgment if a student might have an emergency and need to leave the classroom.

The benefits of these policy changes are borne out by the data, according to Kluck-Spann. In the spring 2024 semester, 90% of all Irving students passed all of their courses. The number of students arriving late has decreased by nearly 30%. There has been a noticeable decrease in arguments and negative interactions among students, presumably instigated by social media and text conversations. And as if that wasn’t enough, there has been a significant decrease in suspensions, expulsions, and detentions, according to Kluck-Spann.

“Our community in Irving has been so supportive of what we do for their students that it has been a really positive experience for all of us,” she concluded.