Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has released a bill for consideration in the State House regarding student cell phone use during instructional time. The proposed legislation would provide a minimum standard for phone restriction that all districts must comply with by July 1st of this year.
The Mid-Prairie school board has spent time during work sessions over the last few weeks, discussing possible policy, but is looking for community involvement. On the Mid-Prairie Community School District Facebook page, parents are able to take an electric device survey to share their opinion on implementation of such a restriction. Parents need to select the grade levels of their current students, choose between a full ban, which is start to end of every instructional day without a device, or partial ban which still allows access during non-instructional time, and any pros or cons they deem relevant to their answer. The survey is available through February 24th and is linked in this story at KCIIradio.com.
Reynolds’ bill, if approved, would be implemented by the Iowa Department of Education, in a partnership with the Department of Public Safety, with several sample policies available for districts. Legislation would also require an “effects of social media” course for students in sixth through eighth grade.