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BELOIT -- The West Branch Board of Education discussed Wednesday a recent experiment to gauge how much distractions from cell phones disrupt student learning.
Superintendent Micki Egli explained that students in the participating classes at the high school and middle school were instructed to turn their ringers on, and to make a tally on the board each time their phone went off. Egli said that the experiment was conducted in four classrooms for seven class periods, and that there had even been students who "acknowledged how much a problem it is," after they saw the volume of interruptions.
"The purpose behind this was to show how much the cell phones are disrupting learning," said Egli.
Egli also noted that cell phone notifications are still distracting to students even when notification tones are silenced.
"Even though they're on silent most days, when you get a notification on your phone or watch it buzzes, and even as an adult its immediately distracting, so as a teenager I can only imagine how distracting it is, and the amount of learning loss that is taking place," said Egli.
Seventh-grade science teacher Jackie Lyons, whose classroom was among those selected to participate in the experiment for the full school day, said that she felt middle school students shouldn't have cell phones in the classroom at all, regardless of whether they were silenced. Lyons said that she "couldn't get over" the sheer volume of notifications students received in a single day, including those from other students who were supposed to be in class and even their parents.
Lyons said that while the majority of the notifications came from Snapchat there was a surprisingly high volume from ESPN, which were especially distracting for male students. Lyons said the sheer volume of interruptions made it difficult to teach. For example, 14 students received 943 notifications during a 42-minute period in one of the participating classes.
"It's really eye opening when you see in this form [tally marks] the amount phones are used," said Egli.
Also discussed was a resolution accepting amounts and rates as determined by the Budget Commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor. Egli and Treasurer Adam Fisher stressed that this was not a new levy the school was seeking, and that it was just a routine resolution the district has to approve each year.
"The [county] auditor basically tells us what they're going to levy for taxing properties within the district and we have to agree to what they say they're going to levy. So, we have to approve and send a resolution back to them saying we approve it this is just something we have to do every year," said Fisher.
The board also approved several personnel and administrative items.
Personnel items approved included: the hire of substitutes Andrea Miller and Alyssa Barnett; the resignation of school counselor Celeste Alters effective June 30; the resignation and re-appointment of athletic supplementals; volunteers for fine art performances; and the hire of Amanda Hopkins as a van driver.
Administrative items approved included: the March 2024 professional day list; a contract with the Local Government Services section of the Ohio Auditor of State for the preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for fiscal year 2024 not to exceed $9,750; a $3,000 contract with Sedgwick for the Workers Compensation and Unemployment Group Rating Program for fiscal year 2025; and a $15,759.35 contract with Frontline Technologies Group LLC for fiscal year 2025.
The board of education will meet next at 6 p.m. April 24.
mahart@mojonews.com