Henrico Schools to enforce stricter consequences for cell phone violations

The Henrico School Board approved several changes to the division’s Code of Student Conduct at a meeting June 6, which outline more specific and stricter consequences for students breaking cell phone policies.

While previous consequences for cell phone violations allowed teachers and administrators to choose whether or not to confiscate the device, new changes will require devices to be confiscated after a certain number of violations for both elementary and secondary students.

For elementary students, Henrico Schools’ cell phone policy – which requires students to have cell phones “out of visible sight, silenced, or in airplane mode during scheduled class time” unless a teacher gives permission – now will be enforced for “the school day” rather than just during class.

Middle and high school students still only will be required to put their phones away during class time, unless a teacher says otherwise, as well as during “instruction-related after-school activities” such as tutoring, homework help, or make-up work.

Elementary schoolers who break cell phone policies now will have their device confiscated until the end of the day, beginning with their second offense, and their parents will be required to retrieve the device after their third offense. HCPS also implemented a new consequence for the fifth offense requiring the student to turn in their device to the teacher each day.

Middle and high schoolers will have their devices confiscated until the end of the school day and their parents contacted starting with their first offense. After the second offense, parents will have to retrieve the device, and after the fourth offense, the student will be banned from possessing the phone at school for the rest of the year.

While initially, the proposed Code of Student Conduct for 2024-2025 did not include any changes to cell phone rules, HCPS leaders decided to update some of the guidelines after hearing feedback from school board members and school principals, said HCPS Director of Disciplinary Review William Noel Sr.

“Our current policy has been carefully crafted and received affirmation from various stakeholder groups,” Noel said. “We listen to the voice of our students, staff, parents and guardians…the goal of these changes is to support consistent implementation across the district.”

Changes to the cell phone policy also add “smart watches with cellular service or Wi-Fi connectivity” as an example of an unauthorized electronic device. The policy also separates rules and consequences for elementary schoolers from those applying to middle and high schoolers.

However, school board members emphasized that the updated policies only will bring positive results if the rules are consistently implemented throughout the county, no matter the school or grade level.

“As always, it comes down to implementation,” said Three Chopt District representative Madison Irving. “That’s going to be the key with all of this, is implementation, building administration feeling that they have the authority to do this and that they will be backed up by not only the central office team, but also by us as a board to implement this.”

HCPS leaders have cited consistent enforcement of the rules as a problem for the division, after the HCPS 2024 School Survey conducted this past winter found that about 40% of school staff felt that the rules for behavior were not applied consistently.

Irving, who has repeatedly advocated for stricter cell phone policies at past board meetings, said that the new changes also may not be enough to deter students from using cell phones during class time. The cell phone policy does allow phones to be out during class if “being used for instructional purposes with the teacher’s permission” – a “gray area” that could lead to uneven enforcement of the rules, Irving said.

“I love all my teacher colleagues, but not all of us are as firm in applying the enforcement of the rules as they could be,” he said. “And I worry that a ‘teacher’s permission’ could be very broad around cell phone usage.”

The stricter consequences added to the code are a step forward in the right direction, he said. As a current teacher at James River High School in Chesterfield, Irving said that his own “no phone policy” in his classroom led students to enjoy his class more, even though they were frustrated with his strict rules at first.

“While there will be nervousness about this, and a lot of anger I think from students initially, they will come to appreciate this,” he said. “They will come to appreciate the better connections with each other. The staff I think will appreciate this tremendously and I think parents will too.”

HCPS Superintendent Amy Cashwell said that the policy includes exceptions with the “teacher’s permission” to allow for teacher and school building autonomy, since some teachers do have students use their cell phones for instructional purposes.

“There are times when teachers may have an instructional practice or use where they’d like students to leverage their phone, and so while we wanted to maintain that autonomy, again, also really enforcing that teachers have the authority to then say, ‘put it away,’” Cashwell said.

Some middle and high school principals have also started mandating phone pouches for classrooms, and the flexibility of the current cell phone policy allows principals to have more autonomy in how they approach cell phone usage, said school board chair and Varina District representative Alicia Atkins.

“Principals who understand the culture of the building are best at figuring out what to put in, whether it’s a pouch or whatever it is,” she said.

Along with new cell phone rules, the 2024-2025 Code of Student Conduct also removed some restricted clothing items from the dress code, clarified how and when artificial intelligence can be used by students and staff, and lessened the consequences for students who violated the Student Activities Contract.

At the June 6 meeting, the school board also approved new Title IX policies that expand the definitions of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination and allow school principals to conduct Title IX investigations as an alternative to the division’s Title IX coordinator, putting HCPS in line with new federal Title IX changes.

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.