COASTAL OBSERVER

Since the Georgetown County School District started restricting the use of personal electronic devices at the start of the school year, only 200 students have faced disciplinary action.

“That’s pretty good, I would say, for a first semester rollout,” Superintendent Bethany Giles told the school board this week.

Of those 200 students, only 50 were involved in more than one incident.

A proviso in this year’s state budget bans students from having “personal electronic communication devices” during the school day, which is usually defined as being between the tardy bell and the dismissal bell.

If the district did not adopt and enforce a policy, it was at risk of losing its state funding.

Waccamaw Intermediate School principal Travis Klatka, who was representing elementary school principals, told the board the implementation has “gone well.”

It’s not a huge issue with the younger elementary school students because they don’t have phones yet, and the older elementary school students aren’t “addicted” yet because they’ve just got their phones, he added.

According to Klatka, there haven’t been many discipline issues related to phones at his school.

“I think it’s been great for the teachers to have this policy in place and students because the teachers know they can teach without distractions and without having to worry about having to correct a student for having a cell phone out,” he said.

Rosemary Middle’s Ernest Houston, who represented all four middle school principals, agreed.

“The students are more focused,” Houston said. “They’re less distracted in classrooms because they’re not waiting for that ring or ding or that buzz to go off so they can pull out their phone and identify who’s sending that message. They’re focused on what the teacher’s presenting.”

Houston believes students are connecting with each other.

“They have more conversations with each other, which helps them build more healthier relationships,” he said.

Georgetown High School principal Craig Stone, who represented all four high school principals, said there have been a lot of positives and a few challenges.

Among the positives were a decrease in student conflicts due to social media, kids talking to each other in classes, no videotaping of inappropriate behavior, enhanced academic focus and and improved classroom environments, including fewer interruptions.

Two of the unexpected challenges, Stone said, were that there were students who’ve never used lockers and didn’t know how to unlock locks, and teachers who didn’t know how to teach students how to unlock locks.

“That was something we didn’t expect to see,” he added.

Teachers were sent YouTube videos about how to unlock a lock.

Principals are also encountering “inconsistent” enforcement of the district guidelines across classrooms, Stone said.

Giles meets with small groups of students at schools during weekly “Free Throw Fridays.”

When the topic of the cell phone restrictions came up, some students thought Giles would be surprised at what they thought.

“It’s forcing us to be more cognizant of our grades. We’re speaking with each other, we’re talking with each other, we have less social media interaction,” Giles said she was told.

A few students even said they’re using phones less at home, Giles added.

In the district policy, a “personal electronic communication device” is anything that provides access to the internet, wi-fi or telephone signals, or captures images or video. Devices include cell phones, smart watches, tablets and gaming equipment. 

Giles said during the first semester the focus has been on cell phones. Now district staff needs to look at earbuds and smart watches.

The consensus, she added, is that if they’re not being used and not a distraction they’re OK.

Giles believes the district is moving in the right direction. 

“Certainly we have things we want to look at as a team as we move forward next semester,” she added.