While R.F. Staples School students will not be allowed to bring their cellphones into the classroom this fall, across town at St. Mary School, that decision will still be left up to individual teachers.
“Students are allowed to have them in school, but it’s basically at the discretion of each teacher. Some teachers make a lot more use of technology than others,” said principal Vance Nakonechny, pointing out there are digital applications, such as Kahoot!, that allow teachers and students to interact on lessons during and after class time, that have proven to be helpful aides.
R.F. Staples principal Wayne Rufiange announced to parents and students in June the school would implement a cellphone ban in classrooms during class time similar to the one put in place on junior high students in 2018.
Nakonechny noted that St. Mary is by no means immune to the problem as there are regular issues with students bringing and using their cellphones in class as there are in every school, and they are disciplined when required.
“I’m not going to say we have the answer to the cellphone issue,” Nakonechny said.
“Generally, it’s very similar to what they’re doing at R.F. if a kid is abusing their phone. Usually, the teacher will confiscate it, the next time it might come to me and the third time the parents might have to pick it up. We’ve been really appreciative of parental support. When we do have an issue, parents are 99 times out of 100, very supportive of what we’re doing.”
Nakonechny said he recognizes that technology will likely soon take a larger role in the classroom, as it’s not uncommon to have elementary students with their own devices at school, but also noted it can be a detriment to the students’ education at times.
“We’re slowly moving towards BYOD (bring your own device), but we’re not quite there yet,” he said.
“This is more of a junior/senior high issue, but we’re even starting to see kids in upper elementary, Grades 5-6, wanting to bring phones to school ... I think kids are getting access to technology younger and younger. It’s becoming second nature for them, but it’s a little tough for parents and educators to have to deal with at times because we want to know what they know, not what their Internet research skills tell them.”
Nakonechny said he will continue to have an open dialogue with parents and teachers on the issue.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is teach them to use it responsibly because it’s not going away. There are sometimes some difficult conversations and there are some frustrations, but I think communications with students and parents is very important to let them know what our expectations are.”
