SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – During their fall retreat Wednesday, some members of the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System’s school board seemed open to greater restrictions on phone use in the classroom.
“To create a better learning environment, we need to eliminate as many distractions as possible. And this has become, in my opinion, the biggest distraction for pretty much everyone,” said Dr. David Bringman, member of the Sixth District.
Current district policy allows students to use phones for educational purposes.
During the meeting, district officials pointed out that some Savannah-Chatham public schools already have cell phone bans in place and require students to store their devices in so-called storage containers or cases.
As the discussion continues about possibly extending similar rules to other schools, some board members said more needs to be done in the area of surveillance security once phones are gone.
“When it comes to student fights, we can use the camera footage on smartphones to find out who did what,” says Paul Smith, vice president pro tempore.
The discussion comes after the Liberty County school system this year required middle and high school students to keep their phones in bags.
For some members of the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education, introducing a blanket policy is not the right step
An alternative, said Fourth District member Shawn Kachmar, could be to introduce stricter penalties for current device regulations.
In any case, members noted that it may be difficult to obtain full parental consent to new device policies.
“Some parents say, ‘You know what? I don’t want my child to go anywhere without a phone,'” said Second District board member Dr. Dionne Hoskins-Brown. “Other parents say it’s distracting. It encourages bullying. It encourages cheating.”
District officials say they will listen to the opinions of teachers, students and parents before making any possible recommendations for the future.
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