A cellphone is placed atop a magnetic pouch that students at schools in Taos are required to lock their devices inside during school hours. ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe Public Schools is piloting a program using a similar pouch.
A cellphone is placed atop a magnetic pouch that students at schools in Taos are required to lock their devices inside during school hours. ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe Public Schools is piloting a program using a similar pouch.
A bill to encourage New Mexico schools to become cellphone-free zones advanced out of the Senate Education Committee on a 7-2 vote Wednesday morning.
Senate Bill 11, sponsored by Sen. Crystal Brantley, R-Elephant Butte, would give the Public Education Department $10 million to encourage and reimburse school districts to adopt technology to physically limit students’ access to cell phones in school, such as pouches which secure phones with a magnetic lock.
"The average teen spending over five hours a day distracted by cellphones," Brantley told the committee. "The evidence seems clear that they have a significant impact, not just on proficiency rates in the classroom but teen mental health.â€
It would be up to districts whether they want to take part. While most districts have policies restricting cellphone usage, they often go unenforced, leading some districts, like Taos Municipal Schools, to adopt pouches which lock cellphones during instructional time.
Opponents to the cellphone locks include some parents who worry about being able to reach their child at school in case of an emergency. However, Brantley pointed to Taos and said "parents can still contact students by email" and that the pouches can be opened by teachers or destroyed for access should students need their device.
Sens. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, and Harold Pope, D-Albuquerque, voted against advancing the bill. Soules, who is chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said it “is not well-written legislation,†taking issue with the words "encourage" and "reimburse."
“ We're passing a law. Your words matter,†Soules said. “How do you comply with 'encourage?' That's my concern."
Soules called on Greg Frosted, the Public Education Department's assistant secretary of policy and technology.
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“We have had some discussions around what 'encourage' might mean,†Frostrad said. “It would likely be a policy memo that would say we encourage you to do this — to institute a policy.â€
Brantley said she preferred "encourage" to "mandate." Soules also took issue with the bill’s lack of spending parameters for the anti-distraction technology.
“ It doesn't say that [districts] can't get gilded lock boxes. You know, ones that cost $400-$500. What is the maximum a district can spend? It doesn't say. It says they'll get reimbursed. That's pretty open-ended.â€
“We trust in our Public Education Department to correspond with our individual school districts as to how they would be reimbursed into to assist with the processes," Brantley replied.
The bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee.
In a statement after the vote, Brantley noted New Mexico's last-in-the-nation ranking in many areas of education and expressed hope the policy could improve both academic outcomes and student mental health.
"I was pleased to see teachers, students, charter schools, public schools, superintendents, and many others come together and support this legislation," she stated.