DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Students at 13 schools in one district will soon find out if they will have to give up their phones when they head to class this school year.
Channel 2′s Tom Jones was the only reporter there as the DeKalb County Board of Education discussed a proposal where those students will have to put their phones in a locked pouch or a locker.
On Monday evening, the school board voted unanimously to approve the proposal.
The school district says academic performance suffers because students are spending too much time on their phones, distracted by notifications.
“So we looked at 18 classrooms across the district,” Dr. Darnell Logan, the Director of Student Relations, said on Monday. He said the district had 306 students tally their cellphone notifications during a 30-minute period. One of the middle school classes had 976 notifications in just a half hour.
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Logan told board members that’s disrupting academic performance.
“Research is clearly showing that students with cell phones in the class, their attention levels are being reduced,” he explained.
That’s why the district wants to disconnect students from their cell phones during class, which some board members say is sorely needed.
“All of us are probably in agreement that we need to do something,” board member Vickie B. Turner said.
Staff is asking the board to approve a pilot program where students will have to place their cell phones in a locked pouch.
“This will lock for the day,” Logan said, showing how it works.
At the end of the day, students tap a magnet base to unlock the pouch.
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Some board members liked the idea, but believe parents could be the issue. Board member Anna Hill read some parents’ reactions to the proposal.
“Cell phone bags equal waste of money,” she read.
The board chairman also isn’t convinced this is the best plan.
“I don’t agree with taking their phones throughout the entire day,” said Diijon Dacosta Sr.
But the superintendent says something must be done to reduce classroom interruptions.
“And so we’re really trying to test to see if there’s an opportunity for us to really find a solution to this,” Dr. Devon Horton said.
The following school are slated to participate in the program:
- Cross Keys High School
- Henderson Middle School
- Lakeside High School
- Lithonia Middle School
- Lithonia High School
- Martin Luther King Jr. High School
- Salem Middle School
- Sequoyah Middle School
- Tucker Middle School
- Tucker High School
Three middle schools will get cell phone lockers, including:
- Chapel Hill Middle School
- Druid Hills Middle School
- Miller Grove Middle School
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Last month, Marietta City Schools voted to separate students from their phones during the school day with similar locking devices.
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