Students in Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools will have to curb cellphone usage throughout the course of the school day.
B.C. Premier David Eby announced student cellphone-usage restrictions on Aug. 27, and regulations for the district were detailed at the education committee meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 4.
Secondary school students will have to turn off, or mute, digital devices – mobile phones, tablets and any device with internet access – before going to class. Rules for elementary school students will be more prohibitive, as digital device usage will be restricted from the start to end of the day, lunch and recess included. Further, devices must be put in school bags for the whole day.
Rules are not cut and dry, as allowances will be made for purposes of learning, accessibility, medical and health needs and "equity to support learning environments," stated an Aug. 30 letter to caregivers. Don Balcombe, assistant superintendent of secondary programs, told the committee the school district is pleased with the related direction from the B.C. government.
"It is wide enough that it allows schools to focus on the two key strategies of improving academic focus," he said. "We know digital device use interrupts and distracts from the academic focus, so it allows for that and also addresses the need to improve student wellness. Students and staff and parents will all acknowledge that too much screen time on devices is detrimental to student wellness."
Tania Brzovic, school trustee, wondered how effective it would be telling students not to use cellphones in class.
"I was always a bit on the fence about this whole thing because anybody who knows me knows that my personal belief is that prohibition doesn't actually do much good," she said. "Doesn't matter what it is, whether it's … alcohol or whether it's technology. Just telling a person, 'you can't do that, it's bad for you, don't do it,' doesn't actually give them the skills to not do it."
Brzovic wondered if staff could provide information on what types of digital literacy education students were receiving. Balcombe said staff could look into it and also suggested broaching the topic with student representatives.
Cellphone restrictions were part of three-tier plan announced by the B.C. government in January intended to keep children safe. Services allowing image removal from the internet and prosecution of predators, and legislation holding social media companies accountable for harm caused were also part of the plan.
Prior to the premier's recent announcement, the district had stated that schools would implement their own cellphone policies.
