Texas school district puts limits on cell phones in classrooms during school day

BELTON, Texas (FOX 44) -- Some expectations Belton ISD wants to see with students are personal electronic devices to be silenced or turned off, put away and not in use during the instructional class period.

Assistant Superintendent of Operations for Belton ISD Cassandra Spearman said the guidelines Belton ISD is putting in place are reasonable, feasible and easily implemented.

"If a teacher currently has a system in their classroom, then they can continue using that system. We do have some teachers who already have a plan. It's working for them, and we're going to our guidelines to allow for that to continue," Spearman said.

Belton ISD is training its teachers, students and staff on the guidelines and what those expectations are.

They have been clear on the consequences if a student chooses not to follow these expectations.

"First, we're going to warn you, we're going to provide guidance and then we'll use our regular discipline referral process to handle students who do not follow the expectations," Spearman said.

Instead of reinventing a process without getting the voices of everyone who will be impacted, the district sent out surveys to parents and stakeholders.

"Majority of our parents do believe that cell phones are a distraction to instruction and believe that cell phones should not be utilized during instructional time," Spearman said.

Middle school students will be given a chance to earn cell phone privileges in the hallways during transition and during lunch at the campus administration's discretion.

The reward will be connected to campus expectations around safe, respectful and responsible appropriate behavior to use phones when entering high school.

"We teach behavioral skills and behavioral expectations. We provide acknowledgments when they're doing well and they are able to earn privileges," Spearman said.

These guidelines are set to take place in January.