ROANOKE COUNTY, Virginia. — High school students in Roanoke County can expect some changes regarding cell phones when school starts Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Roanoke County School Board approved some changes to the current cell phone policy to prohibit teachers in all grades from using cell phones in the classroom. Under the new policy, high school students will be allowed to use their personal devices between class periods and during lunch.

The school board has been discussing revising the current (and now former) cell phone policy that allowed teachers to allow cell phones in the classroom.

The Board considered three scenarios last month:

1. Keep the policy as it is

2. Mobile phones are prohibited in classrooms and teachers may not allow students to use them, even for educational purposes.

3. Limit cell phone use throughout the day for all grade levels.

The school department even sent out a survey to parents, staff and students to get their opinions on what measures they would like to see.

According to the survey, 36% of parents want to keep the current policy, 33% want to ban cell phones during class, and 29% want to ban cell phones all day long.

The students also agreed: 81% did not want to change the policy.

The new directive was adopted by a vote of 3:1.

Roanoke County School Board Chairman Brent Hudson was the only board member to vote against it, but Hudson said his decision was based on what he saw in the survey of the people he represents.

“When I look at the numbers of the people I serve in Northside and Glenvar, option one was much better than option two in both cases. I cannot support option two, I will support option one,” Hudson said.

Several members also supported a more restrictive approach, but felt that with the school year approaching, it was best to offer parents a middle ground with option two.

This also eliminates a grey area for teachers.

“The previous policy really put a lot of pressure on teachers to make this decision. I think this decision tonight is really a sign of support from our school board for teachers to kind of say, ‘Hey, we’re going to take responsibility’ … in terms of how the policy is going to be implemented,” said Superintendent Ken Nicely.