ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – Roanoke City Public Schools is maintaining their current cell phone use policy through the rest of the school year, despite its non-compliance at the high school level with guidance passed by the Virginia Department of Education in September.
In July, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed Executive Order 33, calling VDOE to draft guidance for school districts to adopt in an effort to establish cell phone-free education.
The standards outlined in the final guidance are supposed to take effect January 1, 2025, calling for bell-to-bell bans for elementary, middle, and high schools.
That means phones are to be turned off and put away for the entirety of the school day.
Individual school systems are allowed to determine whether phones can be used in before and after-school activities as well as determine where devices can be stored during the school day.
The Roanoke City Public School policy that has been in place throughout the first half of the year follows the guidance at the elementary and middle school levels, but allows for high school students to use their phones in-between instruction time.
“The transitional times in their day like when they’re changing classes, at lunch, or have a free period, they are allowed to touch base with their phones,” said Roanoke City School Board Chair Dr. Eli Jamison.
As of January 1, that policy will not quite meet VDOE standards according to the final guidance passed in September, but RCPS is sticking with it through the rest of the school year.
“The reason for that is simply to minimize the disruption,” said Jamison. “This was a big change for everyone.”
The school system plans to adopt the full bell-to-bell ban in accordance with the executive order beginning with the summer 2025 term.
RCPS says it was one of the earliest adopters of a cell phone-free education and does not believe maintaining the current policy through the school year will cause any issues with VDOE.
“It hasn’t been our experience that the department of education and the governor’s office has been punitive against districts that have been operating in good faith,” said Jamison.
WFXR reached out to the Virginia Department of Education for a comment about how its January 1 deadline would be enforced.
“The majority of Virginia school divisions have implemented bell-to-bell policies, and we look forward to the remaining divisions continuing to move in this direction,” said VDOE senior communications advisor Todd Reid.
RCPS said it plans to roll out a resource toolkit toward the end of the semester that will equip every student, parent, teacher and education stakeholder with the resources they need to prepare for the more stringent policy taking effect in the summer of 2025.