ALLEGHANY HIGHLANDS, Va. (WFXR) — On Tuesday, January 21, Alleghany Highlands Public Schools (AHPS) released its finalized policy guidelines for student cell phones and electronics device use during the school day.
The approved guidelines comply with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order issued in July 2024 and will go into effect on February 1, 2025. At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, AHPS laid out a proactive cell phone and mobile device policy with the goal of minimizing distractions and maximizing safety.
Current guidelines do not allow devices to be used during class instruction and were modeled from other school divisions and feedback from online parent surveys.
However, Executive Order 33 signed by Gov. Youngkin directed the Virginia Department of Education to define policies that further restrict device usage and model a cell phone-free education.
“We understand that there are many positives and negatives about the ways cell phones are used in our society,” said Kim Halterman and Melinda Snead-Johnson, leaders of AHPS. “We appreciate the importance of this topic and appreciate everyone’s flexibility in making additional changes this school year.”
The revised AHPS guidelines, effective Feb. 1 sate the following:
- Covington Middle School and Alleghany High School students will not be permitted to use cell phones between classes.
- AHS students will be allowed to use their phones for practical purposes during lunch. Examples include communicating with families, discussing changes to afternoon plans, or contacting employers. Students at CMS will not be permitted to use phones at lunch.
- As per current practice, students in elementary schools will be allowed to bring cell phones to school; however, the phone must be turned off or placed in Do Not Disturb mode.
- AHPS will not be liable for any phone that’s brought to school by a student.
- In cases of emergency, AHPS will contact students’ families. The division uses School Messenger for emergency communications. As a reminder, parents need to keep student contact information up to date by contacting the school the student attends. It is also important for parents not to block their phones from receiving calls from AHPS. All AHPS school offices can be contacted by phone.
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) website has information on final guidance for cell phone-free education in public schools and the executive order issued by the governor last July. AHPS has previously shared information and other resources from the VDOE on its social media pages.
“There is a lot of information on cell phones from these sources, and we continue to encourage our community to read these materials,” said Halterman and Snead-Johnson.
State education officials plan to review the guidance at the end of the school year to consider ways to refine and improve it, according to the VDOE.