Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) trustees voted Thursday to enact an “away-for-the-day” cell phone policy districtwide for grades K-8 starting this fall. The policy will require students in those grades to power off their phones and keep them stored away for the entire school day. Trustees were divided on applying such a policy to high school students, however, ultimately agreeing to study the issue further while meanwhile implementing a consistent system at TC Central and TC West that will require students to keep phones in storage sleeves during class but remain free to use them between periods and during lunch.

TCAPS trustees have been debating a change to student cell phone rules this summer after a group including parents, teachers, students, and physicians advocated for adopting an away-for-the-day policy to restrict phone usage during school hours. TCAPS rules already state phones can’t be out in classrooms, but some parents argued that doesn’t go far enough. Dr. Stephanie Galdes, a pediatrician and parent to three TCAPS students, said that children and adolescents are “especially susceptible” to impacts from social media use, which can cause everything from body dissatisfaction to disordered eating to low self-esteem. “We do not need to give them more time while in school,” she said. “We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis.”

However, multiple speakers during public comment Thursday – including several students – pushed back against banning cell phones at high schools for the entire school day. Addison Booher, an incoming senior at TC Central and the student senate governor, called the proposed policy “completely impractical,” noting that staff can't be expected to relay messages to “hundreds of kids each day.” High school students use phones on their short breaks to coordinate with parents, siblings, friends, and coaches throughout the day, she said. “No one is advocating for phone use during class time,” she said. “However, as a senior and soon-to-be adult, this policy is belittling. Phones and other technology are not going away, so it is in our best interest to learn when to use them appropriately.”

Olivia Forsyth, also an incoming senior at TC Central, acknowledged that phone addiction is a real issue, but said it was “not one that can be solved at school,” adding it was up to families and teenagers to personally address at home. Phones are important tools, Forsyth said, noting that high schoolers “have many responsibilities and need to be able to communicate” – whether it’s about picking up younger siblings after school, changes or cancellations in extra-curricular activities, or coordinating after-school jobs.

Even some teachers and trustees who enthusiastically supported an away-for-the-day policy for younger grades expressed reservations about extending it to high schools. Ian McGurn, a TCAPS parent and Central High School teacher, said such a policy should be “enacted immediately without question” in elementary schools and potentially at middle schools in consultation with educators there, but was skeptical of the policy’s efficacy at the high school level. Central High School implemented a new system this past school year in which students are required to put their phones into “sleeves” or “pockets” in a hanging storage display at the front of the classroom as they enter, taking them with them when they leave. McGurn called it a “very successful model,” one he said was easy to enforce.

Central High School Principal Jessie Houghton also praised the new system, saying it had almost 100 percent compliance by the end of the school year. Rather than keeping phones in their pockets – where students can feel them vibrate, become distracted, and ask to use the bathroom to sneak away and look at them – keeping them stored away in sleeves helps ensure students are focused during class, Houghton said. The numbered sleeves also serve as an easy visual attendance system for teachers, she added.

If students don’t turn in phones – either saying they don’t own one, or don’t have theirs with them – that’s noted and can be monitored over time to determine if that’s really true, Houghton said. Students caught violating the policy – including using phones during instructional periods even if they have free hours themselves – have their phones taken away for the day. Subsequent violations can lead to parents being required to pick up phones, detention or social probation, or the eventual loss of the privilege of bringing a phone to school.

Some TCAPS trustees –  including Andrew Raymond, Erica Moon Mohr, and Josey Ballenger – firmly believed TCAPS should enact an away-for-the-day policy across all grades, including high school. But they were willing to compromise based on feedback and implement the policy for K-8 to start, while also extending the classroom storage system used at TC Central to TC West this fall – ensuring both high schools are consistent. TCAPS Superintendent Dr. John VanWagoner noted that West leaders had already been preparing to adopt the same system and have already ordered storage sleeves for the upcoming school year.

VanWagoner said he would speak to leaders at the district’s alternative school, Traverse City High School, to gauge whether the same policy should go into effect there. He noted many students at that school are in unique situations – some already living independently, some experiencing homelessness, some living with other families – and may require different rules. Trustees voted unanimously 5-0 (with Holly Bird and Scott Newman-Bale absent at the time of the vote) to update the district’s cell phone rules to implement an away-for-the-day policy for grades K-8 and to use the classroom check-in storage system for grades 9-12.

The cell phone policy also addresses other areas of usage. For student privacy and safety, no pictures or video recordings are permitted to be taken on any district-owned vehicles, including school buses and vans. High school students who are dual enrolled must follow the cell phone policy of hosting institutions while attending off-site classes. The TCAPS cell phone policy is applicable to school-sponsored activities like field trips and applies not just to cell phones but other devices like AirPods and smart watches, if those devices are being used in violation of district rules. Trustees debated whether K-8 students will be allowed to store their phones in backpacks or if they must be kept in lockers for the day. That decision – and any other language tweaks trustees want to make to the new policy before the school year starts – will be fleshed out at the board’s August 14 meeting.

As with technology itself, the district’s cell phone policy is likely to continue evolving over time, trustees and staff agreed. The board plans to have more discussions in the coming months with high school students, parents, and staff about the grade 9-12 rules, including whether to also eventually go to an away-for-the-day policy, stay with the classroom storage system, or conside other tweaks (such as enacting a lunchtime ban on phones to encourage students to socialize). Though Moon Mohr said she believes cell phones shouldn’t be in schools, she wanted to ensure employees were on board with any policy TCAPS enacts and said trustees needed more feedback at the high school level before making more aggressive changes.

“I just feel like if we do not ask our teachers and our administrative staff and our support staff how they feel about this, this policy could fall flat on its face,” she said. “I need to hear from our teachers.”