SAN ANTONIO – For students in one of San Antonio’s largest school districts, the arrival of summer vacation means the return of cellphones outside class.
North East Independent School District marked its last day of school after a year that included the threat of conservatorship tied to the district’s cellphone policy. In April, after months of debate, the school board voted to update the policy to align with Texas Education Agency standards.
Under the updated rules, students must keep phones powered off during school hours. North East ISD’s adjusted policy takes effect at the end of the school year. Starting next school year, students will no longer be allowed to use phones during lunch or in-between classes.
In recent weeks, KSAT reached out to San Antonio-area districts to see how students handled similar changes. Here’s what districts reported:
- Southwest ISD: Eighty-seven (87) instances of noncompliance. Southwest Legacy High School reported the most with 35, followed by Scobee Middle School with 21 and Southwest High School with 16. District officials said some elementary campuses also reported violations.
- Southside ISD: Approximately 120 violations at the district’s three largest campuses.
- South San Antonio ISD: Seven hundred ninety-two (792) students were caught using their phones. South San High School accounted for 592 followed by Shepard Middle School with 85. Zamora and Dwight reported totals in the 50s.
- Northside ISD: One thousand eight hundred fifty-four (1,854) violations across 31 middle and high school campuses. Brennan High School led with 673, followed by Harlan High School with 569.
Districts said consequences ranged from warnings to parent conferences and in-school suspensions, depending on the campus and the situation.
San Antonio ISD said it does not track cellphone violations across the district, calling it a classroom-level issue.
KSAT’s request for data from NEISD has not yet been fulfilled.
For now, though, students can put the rules on pause — at least until August.
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