Unified School District of De Pere. PC: Fox 11 Online
DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) — A new cell phone policy could be coming to a northeast Wisconsin school district.
The policy would have students in the Unified School District of De Pere turn in their cell phone before each class.
Superintendent Christopher Thompson says this will improve student learning, and the students agree with him.
“Students have said ‘yes, we understand that this is a problem, and we can see a response being good for us,'” said Thompson. “That came through with several interviews that were done with students.”
Surveys were also conducted with students, parents, school district staff and the community.
There would be exceptions to the policy in some cases, like for certain safety or medical reasons.
However, Thompson says parents can, and should, call the main office of the school if they need to get in contact with their child.
The school board will hold a formal vote on the policy in February; if passed the change would go into effect beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. It would also require parents to sign a waiver.
“We would have parents sign a waiver of liability against both the teachers and the school district for if a phone would go missing, because the response to this is always going to be ‘don’t bring the phone to class,'” said Thompson.
About 40% of teachers at De Pere High School already have their own cell phone policy for their classroom.
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