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And the survey says?

While no decision has been made on a possible classroom cellphone ban for R.F Staples high school students, the results of a recent online survey are undeniable. The overwhelming majority of the 154 students who participated in the 10-day www.
cell ban
R.F. Staples School is mulling an in-class cellphone ban for high school students — junior high students were barred from bringing their phones into class starting in September 2018.

While no decision has been made on a possible classroom cellphone ban for R.F Staples high school students, the results of a recent online survey are undeniable.

The overwhelming majority of the 154 students who participated in the 10-day www.thoughtexchange.com survey which wrapped May 8 were decidedly against a ban, while the bulk of the 116 parents, 25 school staffers and 16 community members who engaged favoured one.

How the results skewed, said R.F. principal Wayne Rufiange, didn’t shock him. Included in the numbers were 416 shared thoughts on a ban, highlighted by 10,000 stars/ratings.

“On the students’ side, they want to keep their phones and they don’t want to give them up. And as you might expect staff, parents and the community had very similar thoughts … parents are concerned about getting classwork done, appropriate modeling of phones and the distractions,” said Rufiange.

“There’s got to be a balance. I know some students said that they have anxiety and having their phone on them is important. But is the phone causing the anxiety because they’re waiting for someone to message them, or like their Instagram post? So, is it helping their anxiety, or causing more anxiety … that’s a really tough question to answer and solve in a five-minute conversation.”

This past September R.F. Staples junior high students were barred from bringing cellphones into class, while at the high school teachers decide whether or not kids are allowed to bring them in.

Pembina Hills Public Schools doesn’t have an overarching classroom cellphone policy, while nationally Ontario will ban cellphones in all classrooms — with some noted exceptions — starting in September.

Prior to the provincial election in April then education minister David Eggen said they weren’t considering a blanket ban.

“It’s all over the map really (in regards to cellphones in class), so I put it out to our students because we value their perspective and what their concerns are and want to address them, but all of the people, parents, staff, needed to be involved to make sure we have an informed decision.”

Looking to the business community, where students will ultimately end up after graduation, is also a mixed bag as some employers have strict no cellphone polices, while others encourage their use, job dependent. According to a 2016 survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), 61 per cent of 8,800 small business owners said the biggest challenge to workplace productivity were their employees’ use of personal cellphones during work hours.

“I know up at Suncor and Syncrude with the big trucks they have a zero-tolerance policy, so if you’re caught with a cellphone on you, you’re done,” he noted.

Rufiange and senior school admin have poured over the data and they’ll be meeting with staff and the school’s parent advisory council soon. If any change happens, they want to give notice by the end of the school year so they’re ready for September.

“We’ve haven’t come to a decision on what we’re doing next, we’re still exploring that. Do we need to keep how we’ve been dealing with it the same, or do we need to make changes and what would those changes be?” Rufiange asked.

“And as a lot people commented (in the survey), there would have to be consequences, so what would that look like and what’s reasonable and fair?”

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