Kendall school committee urges no cell phones in grades PreK-8

Code of Conduct Committee also recommends against hoodies covering head

KENDALL – The school district, in an annual review of its code of conduct polices, is being asked to not allow cell phones for students in grades prekindergarten to 8.

The phones would have to stay in lockers or in caddies that hold the phones for a classroom. In the high school, grades 9 to 12, cell phones in the classroom would remain at teacher discretion.

“The big discussion is about cell phones in the school and accessibility,” High School Principal Carol D’Agostino said during a public hearing on Wednesday evening about the code of conduct. “It is very distracting.”

Students are often inundated with dinging or vibrations from texts and other messages through their phones, she said.

The Code of Conduct Committee, which surveyed teachers for their input, also is urging the district to not allow hoodies to be worn in school in a way that covers a head. Those sweatshirts can be worn as long as the hood is down, according to the committee’s recommendation.

The code of conduct was revised for this school year to allow hats and hoodies to be worn, but teachers, in a survey and in staff meetings, have urged the district to not allow the hoodies, D’Agostino said.

Some students pull the hoodies over their heads and wear ear pods, listening to music during class. Or some just put on the hoodie and disengage with the class, D’Agostino said.

When students wear hats, their ears aren’t covered and students aren’t shutting themselves off from interacting with others, she said.

The committee also put in language about “sexting” including where students can not send sexually explicit messages, including where the face of a person is not included but a naked image or sexual act is shown. D’Agostino said some students send messages without an identifiable face in an image and will falsely claim it is a student, often leading to humiliation.

The district’s Code of Conduct Committee does an annual review of policies and makes recommendations of changes to the Board of Education. The board typically has the hearing in April and will vote on the changes in June.

Kevin Watson, the elementary school principal, said he expects the district will need a policy in the near future for artificial intelligence chatbots that can write essays and answer math problems. He can foresee AI being used to complete homework. The district, perhaps as soon as next year, could consider a policy stating students need to do their own work without utilizing AI for assignments.