Last year in August, our Government of Saskatchewan introduced a policy on new provincial measures to limit cell phones in Saskatchewan’s K-12 classrooms. It indicates that for Grades 9-12, there are exemptions for when phones are needed for specific learning or instructional purposes, as well as for students who need devices for medical or learning reasons.

I work in a rural K-12 school out in Vibank, and I have to say, having all grades under one roof makes this policy even more complex than it already was. At the beginning of last school year, we spent a lot of start up meetings talking about what “no cell phones in class” actually means and looks like. Our teaching staff was completely split: Do we physically take the student’s phones and lock them in buckets? Do we just ask students to keep it out of sight and store in their bags or in their lockers? What if a students refuses to hand it over? What about apple watches? It was a complex issue that impacts overall student behavior, safety, and how smoothly things are ran, and we only had a few short meetings to get it figured out before the student’s first day of school. Because the policy left many of the actual implementation details up to individual school divisions and then eventually up to individual schools, it felt like everyone was making up rules as we go. For my grade 6 students last year, it was zero tolerance and no phones at all. High school students were allowed their cell phones during breaks and lunch time. This year, with a current 6/7 homeroom split, unfortunately the rules are different for each grade. The grade 6’s still have zero tolerance, but my grade 7’s are allowed to use their cell phones at lunch recess if they decide to go to the library as they can’t have them outside during elementary outdoor recess. It is honestly messy and can be very confusing for students, staff and families. Here in our school’s student handbook, you can find more information regarding our school cell phone policy.

From a teacher’s perspective, one huge benefit is that there are significantly fewer distractions in class which seems to be helping with overall student focus and a more productive learning environment. With this policy, students are more likely to pay attention as there are fewer disruptions. I think from a student perspective, some students might appreciate the break from their busy lives and cell phones, but I know for a fact many others miss and “can’t live without them”. From a parent perspective, I am sure they are somewhere in the middle regarding this policy. I feel as though many parents and guardians support the policy as it allows their child to concentrate and do well in school; however other parents see it as a safety concern as it makes it more challenging to contact their student. In all of this, school-based administrators have the most difficult job of balancing fairness, enforcing the policy and individual school rules, communicating with families, as well as dealing with any student’s defiant behavior.

Aside from our province of Saskatchewan, several other provinces and territories in Canada have done similar things and implemented similar policies. For example, many school boards in Ontario have had phone bans or restrictions in classrooms before we did. Ontario’s cellphone policy, seems to be very similar to the policy our Government of Saskatchewan put in place last August. Many other provinces in our country also have policies in place regarding student cell phone use in classrooms. A study and article shows negative associations between how overusing smartphones affects ones attention span and overall well-being. That being said, for a policy such as our SK school and cell phone restriction one, needs to have very clear guidelines and needs to include prior perspectives from all affecting stakeholders. Without that happening, policies can create confusion and unfairness. Overall, I would say our particular K-12 rural school has come a long way since last August when this policy was released by the government, however there is still a lot of work to do to ensure that the policy is fair and consistent for all stakeholders.