A districtwide cell phone ban was included in a draft of an updated student handbook, but Lawrence school district administrators and board members made some clarifications on Monday.
Students aren’t to have their cell phones out while they’re in class across the district. Elementary and middle school policies don’t allow students to use their phones at all during school hours unless granted permission. High school students, however, are still permitted to use their phones outside of class time.
The handbook draft originally included in the school board meeting agenda for Monday said that “students found using their phone during school hours without permission will be required to check their phone in and out of the office each day,” and phones “must be turned off before entering the building and remain in their backpacks until dismissal.”
Between Monday morning and the evening meeting, that original draft was replaced with a redlined copy. The handbook was also reclassified from a consent agenda item — which would typically be approved in one motion with no discussion — to a new business item.
Previously, the district used separate handbooks for elementary, middle and high schools. Jayci Roberson and Waymond Ervin, who are the district’s new director of elementary schools and director of secondary schools, respectively, said they noticed all were very similar. Consolidating them into one would hopefully create better alignment across the district, they told the board.
“That increases our consistency, as far as communication with our community, our students and our staff,” Ervin said.
Roberson and Ervin said individual cell phone policies for the elementary, middle and high school levels were supposed to be transferred onto the consolidated handbook but were left off, which caused confusion. The redlined version accounted for the mistake.
20240722-Cellphone-policy-from-student-handbookSchool board members unanimously approved the draft with a vote of 7-0, with the understanding that updates will likely be made.
During public comment at the board’s June 24 meeting, district teachers and staff said cell phone use in classrooms is a crisis. More than 80 Lawrence educators had signed a petition for the district to implement a stricter, cohesive cell phone policy.
Superintendent Anthony Lewis said the draft approved Monday would be treated like a first reading, meaning it will likely be updated and brought back later before it’s up for the board’s final approval.
The board policy committee is still considering broader cell phone policy and procedural changes and will seek community input, board President Kelly Jones said.
“It is the board’s expectation that, in the interim to passing a uniform district cell phone policy, teachers and staff will be fully supported in enforcing the current policy,” Jones said. “… We expect to have a more uniformed policy that is inclusive of all the different aspects of considerations for cell phone usage, both in terms of instruction, but also considerations that might be unique to certain populations of our student body.”
Teacher raises
Lawrence teachers will see a $1,400 increase to their base annual salaries this fall.
With a vote of 7-0, the Lawrence school board on Monday unanimously approved the 2024-25 contract for teachers. That increases pay for a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree to $43,983.
“We do really appreciate the negotiations team, and I do think we work well together, and we’re excited to continue,” said Josh Spradlin, negotiations co-chair for the district’s teachers union, Lawrence Education Association.
The district’s pool of funding for certified staff salaries has been increased by approximately 4.1%, totaling approximately $1.9 million. A schedule includes the range of teacher salaries for this coming year.
Additionally, qualifying teachers will see either or both vertical and horizontal movement, which refer to pay increases based on years of experience and levels of certification, respectively.
Read more about what’s included in the approved contract in this article.
The district on Monday also announced a tentative agreement for classified staff to receive 99-cent raises next year. Read more about that at this link.
In other business
• Outgoing superintendent’s final board meeting: Lewis gave parting words Monday as he participated in his final school board meeting as superintendent. Read more in this article.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
