SAN ANTONIO – A major change could be coming for Northeast Independent School District students and their cellphones, but it hasn’t happened yet.
The Board of Trustees chose to table a vote Monday night on revising the district’s current cellphone policy following a state investigation. Right now, students can’t use their personal communication devices in the classroom, but at some NEISD campuses, phones are still allowed during lunch and passing periods.
KSAT has been following this story since the summer, when the state first mandated the change. In June, a new law went into effect in Texas requiring school districts to create a written policy “prohibiting students from using personal wireless communication devices during instructional time.”
Here’s a timeline of our coverage since then:
In August, KSAT first reported that the NEISD Board of Trustees approved a policy that stated, “students are prohibited from using a personal communication device while on school property during the school day, except under the circumstances described in this policy.”
Its policy required students to turn off and store all electronic devices during instructional time but did allow students to use them during lunch periods and passing periods.
In September, KSAT learned that the Texas Education Agency had notified the district that it received a complaint about the policy and had begun conducting an investigation.
In November, KSAT discovered that the TEA had notified NEISD that the investigation had been completed and found the district’s policy did not comply with the new law.
KSAT found that the TEA told NEISD that it had until Jan. 31 to change its cellphone policy to become “bell-to-bell,” or face intervention or sanctions from the state.
The board discussed the cellphone policy at its meeting on Monday. Instead of voting, trustees decided to try and reach out to the TEA one last time before the Jan. 31 deadline.
“What I would intend to go back with is to say, ‘Look, work with us, because it’s very difficult for us to change mid-year,’” Ricardo Lopez, NEISD’s legal counsel, said.
Lopez told KSAT to expect an update at the next meeting before the end of the month.
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