IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) had planned to have a new cell phone policy by now, but they haven’t yet reached a final decision.
Over the summer, the ICCSD laid out a timeline, with that final decision expected in October.
At a work session Tuesday night, school board members continued to discuss the merits of a complete ban— no phones from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.— versus a limited ban, which would prohibit phones during instructional time but not when students were in the hallways or at lunch.
The feedback from people working in the schools seems to be, yes, phones are a major detractor from learning, but also enforcing a complete ban on cell phones would add a lot more work to teachers’ already full plates.
“8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. could create power struggles,” said Brady Shutt, 7-12 Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator for the …