While West Aurora schools have taken the initiative to develop cellphone rules for students building-by-building, officials continue to explore the potential for implementing grade-level-appropriate practices across the district.
District officials recently provided the West Aurora school board with a report on the progress of their efforts in the wake of Gov. JB Pritzker’s recent proposal, which is now incorporated into bills introduced in both the state House and Senate, which would require school districts to adopt guidelines to prohibit students from using cellphones during instructional time, while providing secure and accessible storage for the devices, before the 2026-27 school year.
The proposal lists a few exceptions, such as allowing students to use phones during an emergency.
“We do not yet know what kind of form this will take in terms of will there be legislation or will there be mandates from the Illinois State Board of Education,” West Aurora School District Associate Superintendent of Operations Angie Smith recently told the board.
At the start of the school year the district created a committee comprised of educators across all grade levels to focus on cellphone use by students.
“We were ahead of the game in the sense that we already started this conversation last fall,” Smith said. “We engaged with students, staff members, teachers and the administration to talk about the good and the bad with respect to what happens with cellphones in the classroom and how it might look at different levels.”
No policy proposal for the district has formally been prepared, officials said.
“We are in draft,” West Aurora School District Assistant Director of Student and Family Services Pete Martino said in his report to the school board.
Martino said they are in conversations with schools, especially at the secondary level, about how cellphone policies would be enforced across the district.
“We are having a fabulous dialogue,” Martino said, about “creating a policy that is enforceable and not terribly punitive” that would “have a positive effect on the learning environment.”
“With the governor’s new information, it’s notable to say we were ahead of the game, and we definitely are in a really good vetting process right now,” he said. “I do believe by the time we reach our rights-and-responsibilities (review) next month we will have a very well thought-out recommendation for the board.”
Martino said the group has reached out to neighboring school districts to see what they are doing.
“We are trying to learn from them what works and what does not work,” he said.
West Aurora School District 129 has had its own success with curbing cellphone usage, he added.
“I also think we have a lot of good systems in place currently and we are doing a very nice job without having to go through this whole process,” Martino said.
The committee is looking to develop a “solid policy” and one that students fully understand, Martino said.
The Chicago Tribune contributed to this article.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
