Glen Lake moved on a cell phone policy for the district that focuses on cell phones at the K-8 level.
The Lakers will not allow cell phones for K-8 students to be on them, instead tucked away in a locker to keep distractions out of the classroom.
“This is developmentally appropriate,” Glen Lake middle school principal Dina Rochleau said.
Administrators say cell phones at the middle school level are the most challenging to deal with in terms of distractions.
High schoolers are allowed to have their phone on them but they must remain off and out of sight.
“Our high schoolers do a really good job,” Glen Lake Superintendent Jason Misner said.
The school is encouraging parents to set limits on cell phones at home to better assist with protecting mental health, sleep, and learning capabilities.
“We really need to partner on this (with parents). If it’s a concern, then we need to partner on it ... It’s easy for the school to say cut your kids self on time off at 8: 30 at night. There’s nothing good that happens,” Misner said.
High school students at Suttons Bay School will face a new rule when they return to classes. The Suttons Bay Board of Education adopted handbook for elementary and secondary grade levels at a regular board meeting in July.
The most significant change was the expansion of the “away for the day” policy, which has been in place in the primary grades to grades 9-12.
“Away for the day” prohibits use of cell phones during the school day with students handing them into the office or left in their locker.
“Research finds that use of (hand-held devices) has a destructive impact on students,” Superintendent Casey Petz said during the board’s July meeting. “We’ve had good compliance with younger students.”
Students in grades 9-12 have been able to use cell phones between classes. Now access will be limited to lunch time and only then with specific permission from the principal or when the device is used in connection with medical treatment. For example, a diabetic needing insulin.
Lake Leelanau St. Mary has had a no cell phone policy for at least the past 14 years of principal’s Megan Glynn’s tenure.
“We don’t require that they store them in a locker. We ask them if it’s on their person that we don’t see it. We have some spaces where they can put them in a classroom, but we really discourage the use of cell phones and if using the cell phone during the day, it can be taken from them and collected at the end of the day,” Glynn said.
If you are under seventh grade, you cannot have a cell phone at all, according to Glynn.
St. Mary’s goal is to help students learn how and when to use the cell phone appropriately. The cell phone policy extends to watches, personal computers, and more.
“I think it encourages the kids to socialize more with each other to be engaged with each other. They can have their cell phones out after 315,” Glynn said. “It’s part of their life, but during the school day we really want to eliminate those distractions ... The studies on the psychology of the phone, you’re either waiting for it to go off and alert you that someone sent you a message or you’re upset that no one has sent you a message.”
At Leland Public Schools, policies are getting progressively more restrictive.
Currently, there are no phones at all in the elementary school with successively graduated permissions for access for the high school kids, Leland Superintendent Stephanie Long said.
Leland will be doing a book study as a school community this fall around the book, “The Anxious Generation,” and are moving toward a smartphone phone free environment during the school day for all students. Long says the school will be doing some learning together with kids, families, and staff this fall to ensure we all understand the research around the negative impacts of unfettered access to smartphones on kids.
