Instead, the Cherry Hill Board of Education unanimously adopted a new policy at its Jan. 28 meeting prohibiting school board members from using wireless communication devices, including cellphones, smartwatches and earbuds, during the board’s meetings.
“We wanted to set a good example for our students; to practice what we preached,” said school board president Gina Winters.
School board members can excuse themselves from the meeting to address urgent or necessary matters, according to the policy.
Officials are permitted to use a device to monitor or address a health condition.
The New Jersey School Boards Association told Cherry Hill officials they’re unaware of any other school boards with a similar policy for its board members, Winters said.
The district enacted a new policy in September barring students from using cellphones, smart watches, earbuds and other wireless devices in the classroom.
When officials first discussed implementing a cellphone ban for students, school board members tried using the locked pouches for their own phones during meetings. The pouches didn’t work out for the board or the students, but the idea to ban devices from meetings remained, Winters said.
With the new policy, board members are seeing increased engagement, communication and collaboration among themselves during meetings, she said.
“I realized how freeing it was to sit at the board table without any distractions,” Winters said.
Cherry Hill Superintendent Kwame Morton praised the board’s decision.
“This thoughtful action reflects their dedication to fostering an environment of focus and active participation during board meetings,” he said. “By leading with this example, the board reinforces its commitment to integrity and the values we share as a community.”
Many school districts already have policies about student cellphone use in place, with some banning smartphones entirely — over the objections of some parents and students who want access to phones in case of emergencies.
Several districts use pouches, made by the company Yondr, that require students to lock their cellphones inside and unlock them at the end of the school day.
Districts using Yondr pouches include Woodbury, New Brunswick, East Orange, Pennsauken and Bridgeton.
In his State of the State address last month, Gov. Phil Murphy backed a plan to direct New Jersey school districts to adopt policies to ban cellphones in classrooms, citing phones as a contributor to a distraction to learning and a fuel in cyberbullying.
He also announced recently he wants to give school districts $3 million to help implementcellphone bans in the classroom, following a recent tour of Woodbury Junior-Senior High School in Gloucester County.
The proposed funding is like “putting chum in the water” to entice other districts to enact similar policies, he said.
Officials in other states — including New Hampshire, New York, California and Florida — have announced similar proposals to ban cellphones in classrooms or already signed legislation.
“Cell phone use is prohibited for students during the school day so they can focus on their classwork; as a board, we should be focused on doing the work of the district during our meetings,” said Winters. “That’s what we were elected to do.”
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