photo by: Journal-World

The Lawrence school board will meet on Monday at the school district offices, 110 McDonald Dr.

The Lawrence school district on Monday heard from several teachers about the cell phone policy for the middle schools and high schools. They came with a petition signed by 84 of their peers in the hopes of making changes to the district’s policy.

The policy, “which leaves room for teacher discretion and requires some (cellphones) to simply be, ‘put away and out of sight,’ is problematic,” said Michelle Babcock, a teacher at Lawrence High School, because it is inconsistent from classroom to classroom. “It allows the most addictive devices ever invented to be within easy reach during the school day.”

Babcock said the letter has a lot of support among Lawrence High School staff despite only being circulated at the end of May. The petition was discussed following the implementation of phone free policies in many districts throughout Kansas and in response to the rising mental health crisis among youth associated with social media use.

Many educators are also concerned with a phenomenon called the proximity effect, Babcock said. The proximity effect is the idea that the physically closer our phone is, the less we can resist the urge to check it.

“This is why policies that allow students to carry their phones with them don’t work,” Babcock said.

One commenter said the call for change was not just about cellphones, but devices in general. And another commenter said this policy should be extended to elementary schools.

School board president Kelly Jones said she appreciated the work the teachers put into the petition.

“I appreciate the advocacy on the part of our educators to see what are the things we can do to make that policy better, so that students can stay more focused when they are learning and less focused on a very compelling device that we all know, which is the cell phone,” Jones said.

Jones said the board would consider their options for revising the cell phone policy, but made no decisions Monday night.

In other business, board members approved the following on the consent agenda:

* An increase of funds for wearable panic button systems at Broken Arrow Elementary.

The school district will soon implement advanced badges provided by Centegix that can call for help in various scenarios – ranging from student altercations to potential threats requiring a school lockdown — with just a few clicks of a button.

The amount of funding for the project will increase from $12,500 to $25,000, half of which will come from a Kansas Safe and Secure Schools grant. According to the agenda, the additional funds will assist in keeping the system operating for five years.

* An athletic facilities master planning study for the four middle schools and two high schools. The study would be conducted by architecture and design firms ACI Boland and VSR Design, according to the agenda, and could cost up to $48,000.

The study plans to evaluate outdoor building structures, gymnasiums, locker rooms, training areas, turf and natural grass locations and other facilities. It would also include an online survey to “engage designated staff” in the review process.

* Changes made to board policies that will be given final approval at a future board meeting. Board members approved changes with the nonresident enrollment policy, a policy required under statewide open enrollment law. One of the changes to the district’s policy refers to students experiencing homelessness.

As the Journal-World reported, the updated policy says any child who is experiencing homelessness is able to enroll in and attend the school district of residence without application and acceptance through this policy.

Following the consent agenda, the Lawrence school board discussed a contract negotiation issue during an executive session.