COLUMBIA, SC (WCSC) – South Carolina public school students will soon be banned from using their cell phones from the morning late bell to the afternoon end-of-school bell.
This cell phone ban stems from a resolution passed by the General Assembly, which included in the current state budget a requirement for all districts in the state to implement such a policy or risk jeopardizing state funding. This week, the State Board of Education adopted guidelines that outline what this should mean, at a minimum, for all school districts.
But during Tuesday’s board meeting, some concerns were raised about what that might mean in an emergency – a concern that has heightened for some after Wednesday’s deadly shooting at a Georgia high school.
“It was the Uvalde students and their cell phones that allowed them to call their parents and say goodbye. I just want to make that clear. But don’t completely ban them from doing that,” Brian Petrano, a parent from Lexington, told the school board on Tuesday.
While the statewide policy the state board adopted this week prohibits students from using cell phones from ring to ring, it is up to local school districts to decide where students keep their phones during the school day — for example, turned off in their backpacks, lockers or elsewhere.
Individual districts may also choose to completely prohibit students from bringing phones and other devices, including tablets, smartwatches and gaming devices, onto campus.
“Nobody has a problem with leaving phones in their pockets during actual class time – districts can also opt to ban them across campus if they choose,” Petrano told board members.
South Carolina Secretary of Education Ellen Weaver said in emergencies, the most important thing for students to focus on is adults getting them to safety.
“They should not be distracted by digital devices and then when they are in a safe place they can pull out their devices and communicate with their parents,” Weaver told reporters on Tuesday before Wednesday’s tragedy in Georgia.
Governor Henry McMaster, a supporter of the policy, echoed Weaver’s stance that the immediate focus must be on following teachers’ instructions until students are safe.
“This would, we hope, reduce chaos and provide greater safety,” the governor told reporters on Thursday. “It would also allow the school offices that we now have in almost all schools to do their jobs.”
Weaver said it is ultimately the job of school districts, not children, to provide real-time information to parents in the event of an emergency.
“We’re going to continue to work with our districts on this,” she said. “We’re going to continue to learn from other states that are already ahead of us in implementing this policy because we know there are best practices across the country and here in South Carolina that we can take and share with districts across the state so that when an emergency occurs, our parents don’t have to worry about whether their child is safe.”
Weaver had already raised these concerns before the shooting in Georgia on Wednesday. However, the South Carolina Department of Education subsequently reiterated that this remains its stance. The policy is intended for normal school operations. In an emergency, priorities would shift and the focus would be on safety and communication.
Nationwide implementation of these mobile phone guidelines is scheduled to begin in January.
However, individual districts can begin enforcing their own policies earlier.
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