News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Alpena Public Schools board members are seen in the midst of discussion during their Monday night workshop meeting.

ALPENA — One of the more challenging topics for today’s educators is the best way to limit distractions in the classroom.

Policy 5136 discussed by the Alpena Public Schools Board of Education Monday night addresses distractions from personal communication devices.

Alpena High School Principal Romeo Bourdage said that they surveyed all the teachers in the 2022-2023 school year and found that 85% of teachers wanted to ban cell phones completely during instructional time. The other 15% said they wanted the autonomy to allow phone use when necessary.

They decided to implement a full ban during instructional time.

“Consistency is the biggest piece that we have to have when implementing a policy like this,” Bourdage said.

If he walks into a classroom for an observation and sees a student on their phone, he immediately asks for it. Depending on where a teacher is in their classroom, they may not be able to see that a student is on their phone under their desk.

The board discussed that the policy needs to be enforced consistently so that teachers aren’t singled out for being the “bad guy” for taking away cell phones while other teachers take a more relaxed approach.

Exceptions can be made if a student has a family emergency and needs to stay in contact with their parents. In that situation, they could step out into the hallway to make a call.

Teachers can also call security as back up if a student refuses to give up their phone. Security staff will take a student out into the hallway and have a conversation with them about phone use.

Bourdage said that there has been a huge decrease in the number of students being taunted, bullied, or harassed since the cell phone policy’s inception.

Board member Sarah Costain questioned the allowance of cell phones during the passing period at the high school.

“They’re kind of taken away from being students, like that actual personal communication with … your peers, you know, I feel like that’s a really big thing,” she said.

Bourdage said it would be impossible to police with the size of the building. In his observation, the majority of students are interacting with each other during passing time rather than being glued to their phones.

Board Member Sarah Fritz also commented on the impossibility of policing students in the hallways.

“It would be a logistical nightmare,” she said.

Board member Monica Dziesinski said they should reach out to districts that have zero cell phone policies and see how they handle it.

At Thunder Bay Junior High, students are only allowed on their cell phones at lunch time. Board members expressed an interest in talking to TBJH Principal Katie Lee to hear her perspective on banning cell phone use completely at TBJH.

Board member Eric Hansen argued that students at the junior high level would be more likely to abuse cell phone privileges.

“I would say, from an age standpoint, that’s probably the greatest area for abuse,” Hansen said. “Especially at the lunch time, because I know, I hear the stories.”

One of Hansen’s children goes to TBJH, he said.

K-5 Director of Curriculum Stephanie Piper said that the concern she has with zero phone use at TBJH is for the kids that may need to talk to their therapist or counselor if they are having suicidal ideation. She also talked about kids that monitor their blood sugar using their phones. Taking phone use away at the junior high level may isolate and single out those students, she said.

At the elementary schools, kids are allowed to bring cell phones to school but they have to be turned off all day.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.