The policy says teachers and campuses can determine an appropriate way to store the phones, but they will be confiscated if a student is in violation.
DALLAS — The Dallas Independent School District board early Friday approved a new cell phone ban ahead of the statewide policy that’s also set to go into effect this upcoming school year.
Dallas ISD experimented with different ways to keep cell phones out of the classroom, but now that it is state law, the school board moved quickly to approve a new district wide policy.
The new policy includes escalating levels of punishment for each violation:
- 1st violation – phone confiscated, returned to parent/guardian
- 2nd – returned with $5 fee
- 3rd – returned with $10 fee
- 4th – returned with $15 fee.
The policy says teachers and campuses can determine an appropriate way to store the phones, but they will be confiscated if a student is in violation and parent or guardians can pick up the phone with no fee.
The ban was within the district’s code of conduct for next school year that the board approved 8-0 on the consent agenda without discussion last night.
This comes after Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill for a statewide ban over the weekend. Several districts across the state had already approved their own ban policies even before Abbott signed the bill, but Dallas ISD had largely left it up to the discretion of individual campuses and teachers. The statewide ban does allow for certain exceptions such as health reasons and the Dallas policy does allow students to get prior approval for those exceptions.
The state law doesn’t go into effect until Sept. 1, but the Dallas policy will be in place when students return August 12.
The state law, which was passed under House Bill 1481, requires all school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to adopt policies prohibiting students from using personal communication devices while on school property during the school day. Previously, such policies were optional for districts.