HOWARD COUNTY, Md. — A cell phone policy from the Howard County Public School System won't allow students to use their cell phones from bell to bell.
Superintendent Bill Barnes hopes for a positive outcome.
"Students come into school and really focus on learning, focus on socializing with their peers, building their relationships that are important," Barnes said.
VIDEO: New cell phone policy for Howard County Public Schools
The policy will roll out on March 3rd.
Barnes told WMAR 2 News the district needed a new law of the land, saying the policy they already had was hard to enforce.
"This policy is very clear. Students have their phones out; administrators are called to remove the phone for the remainder of the day. If it's a repeated offense, they can have the family come to pick it up."
The announcement of the new policy came after a process of meetings with over 9,000 pieces of feedback from the stakeholders, including students and parents.
Parents are largely in support of it.
"I'm ok with it because phones distract the children from learning—a lot of TikTok, Instagram, things like that," one HCPSS parent told WMAR 2 News.
But she has a common worry.
"But as long as I can get in contact with my child, like text messages or whatever, just in case of emergencies, I'm ok with that."
Barnes responded to those worries.
"If parents have emergencies at home or they need to get a hold of their child, they can call the school," he said. "In the case of an extreme emergency, our first protocol for staff and students is to silence their phones."
There's also a proposed bill in the Maryland General Assembly to ban student use of cellphones in school.
However, while the bill completely bans cellphones for elementary and middle school students, it would allow high school students to use their phones during lunch.
