Should Saucon Valley Ban Cell Phones?

Tonight, the Saucon Valley School District Academic and Personnel (A&P) Committee held its regularly scheduled meeting with one main item for discussion - student cell phone use/ban.

I attended the meeting and was again discouraged to see how little parental and community involvement takes place at our school meetings (something I will attempt to address if elected). In fact, I was the only member of the public to attend. As such, I wanted to provide an update for you all before rumors begin and to stifle any potential outrage that might pop up in our community.

Firstly, there is no current consideration of a cell phone ban at this time. Period.

This initial discussion of a cell phone ban was brought up by a board member at the last general meeting. At that time, it was decided the topic would be pushed to committee for further discussion. Tonight's discussion was the first (of many) that will likely occur on the topic.

For those unaware:

• Middle school students have to keep their phones in their locker and aren't using them between classes or in the cafeteria during lunch.

• High schooler students can keep their phones with them and use between classes and during lunch in the cafeteria.

• Elementary students are not supposed to have phones with them in.

  
  

Saucon Valley School District Policy 237 addresses electronic devices.

It was encouraging to hear that, by and large, Saucon does not have a "cell phone problem". As a parent of elementary school kids, I'm not yet dealing with daily cell phone usage, but I appreciated that aside from isolated issues, there is not a widespread issue with cell phones in class, according to the administration.

I was impressed by the quality of discussion by the committee members and administration officials. The topic was discussed at length and thoroughly, and a sensible plan for moving forward was established. That plan begins by surveying Saucon teachers and staff to determine whether they feel current cell phone use and policies are having a negative impact on our kids.

If this item concerns you, or if you have strong opinions one way or the other, I encourage you to stay up-to-date with school board agendas and committee meeting agendas as discussions continue. I will do my part to help keep the public informed on this topic.

In my opinion, it falls on families to decide whether their children will have and carry cell phones, however, cell phones cannot interfere with educational instruction. Based on what I heard tonight, policies are already in place to address cell phone use, and overall, cell phones are not having a detrimental impact on learning. Perhaps talk of a 'ban' is premature but this is a topic that we should all keep an eye on.

What's your opinion?

Should Saucon Valley Ban Cell Phone Use During the School Day?

• YES
• NO

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Related to the lack of attendance at this A&P meeting, when I ran in 2023, one of my suggestions was to address when committee meetings are held in order to encourage additional attendance. I have that same commitment today.

Committee meetings are a valuable tool to provide smaller setting for the public to interact more directly with school board members and administrators while expressing their opinions. All of the items presented to the general school board are discussed thoroughly beforehand in various committees.