SALEM — The Salem school district will be implementing a new cellphone policy during the upcoming 2025-2026 school year in accordance with state mandates.

The board of education previously discussed the impending deadline from the state for all schools in the state to have a formal phone policy by July 1 in February. At that meeting Superintendent Sean Kirkland said that the district’s current phone policy which permits students to use their phones in the cafeteria and hallway, but not in the classroom was “a little bit loose,” with students sneaking phones into classrooms “on a regular basis” and that the district’s new policy would be aimed “tightening up the cell phone policy and keeping them out of the classrooms.” At that meeting Kirkland also attributed the district’s decision to tighten its cellphone policy to studies which have found that cellphone use negatively impacts the mental health of students.

In Monday’s board meeting that new policy was officially approved, with Treasurer Mike Douglas noting that it mostly followed a model policy put forth by the state which “Governor [Mike] DeWine has been pushing with the state budget.”

Under the new policy the use and possession of cell phones on school property “including classrooms, restrooms, hallways, and the cafeteria” during school hours is strictly prohibited. All phones must either be left at home or locked in students’ lockers with either locks provided by the district or personal locks with a backup in the office, with any phone seen outside of a student’s locker during school hours constituting a violation of the policy. The only exceptions will be for students with documented medical or 504 plans.

Should parents need to contact their child while at school they must contact the school’s office, and swift communication between administrators and classrooms will be facilitated with two-way radios.

“Parents, if you need to contact your students during the day, we’ll just have to go back to the old ways and call the office, and the office will then direct staff to contact your students for any issues which may arise at home,” said Kirkland.

Douglas said that letters outlining the new policy would be sent out this week, and that the new policy would be in effect on the first day of the 2025-2026 school year. Agreements regarding the policy will also be distributed in May to be signed by parents and students and submitted via Final Forms in August.

For a student’s first violation they will be issued a verbal warning and have their phone confiscated and returned at the end of the day. The second violation escalates from a warning to a lunch detention in addition to confiscation of the phone. All subsequent violations will incur a Saturday detention and have the phone confiscated until it is picked up by a parent. Refusal to turn over a cell phone to a staff member will constitute insubordination.

The board of education will meet next at 7 p.m. June 23.

mahart@mojonews.com