MOOSE JAW – Most parents with children in Holy Trinity Catholic School Division appear to be OK with a new policy prohibiting the use of communications devices in the classroom, division administration says.
The division office created Administrative Procedure (AP) 352, Student Use of Personal Electronic Devices, this August in response to the provincial government’s announcement that the use of cell phones and smartphones would be prohibited in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms starting this school year.
However, the Ministry of Education did allow high school teachers to seek exemptions from their principals to use phones for instructional purposes.
Meanwhile, it encouraged school divisions to include exemptions for students who require ongoing use of mobile devices as accommodations for medical or specific learning needs in their new procedures.
With this announcement, Saskatchewan joined several other provinces with initiatives to limit or restrict the use of internet-connected devices in schools, including Ontario and Alberta.
Division administration gave an update about the new procedure during the board of education’s September meeting.
“I’ve only had one disgruntled parent, and their question to me was, ‘Now that you’re taking cell phones away, are you going to take their vehicles away?’” Ward Strueby, director of education, said.
“So that was the only negative interaction I’ve had, and I understand because it is a change in policy,” he added.
Division superintendents also told trustees that “it’s been pretty quiet” at the school level about this change, while the new AP has been “fairly well received.” In elementary schools, students weren’t allowed to use communication devices throughout the day during instructional time anyway, so now they are prohibited from using them at all on school grounds.
Also, principals have reported that they have had zero negative interactions with parents and other stakeholders about this change.
Meanwhile, principals at Phoenix Academy and Vanier Collegiate have not reported any negative feedback about the changes either, trustees heard. Last year, Vanier moved to a new “out of sight, out of mind” policy with cell phones and smartphones, where students were required to keep their devices in their backpacks, lockers or pouches.
“We’re a little bit ahead of the curve, so it was not that big of a change. They can still access their phones at breaks and lunchtime,” said Sarah Phipps, superintendent of student services. “We (also) haven’t seen any teacher requests yet saying they want (phones) for educational purposes. So we’ll see if that changes … .”
The next Holy Trinity board meeting is Monday, Oct. 21.
