New Kansas cell phone law could cost one area school district up to $180K
The new state law banning cell phone use in Kansas schools could cost one school district up to $180,000 in order to comply.
The policy, which goes into effect this fall, prohibits cell phone use in public and accredited private schools across Kansas during the school day. Students’ devices must be turned off and securely stored during the school day, not only cell phones but also tablets, watches, ear buds and more.
To respond to this, Haysville’s school district is looking at purchasing cell phone lockers for its schools, Superintendent Jeff Hersh, whose last day with the district was on Monday, said.
“Every student brings their phone to school, and those have to be stored somewhere and they don’t have the locker space currently … to accommodate them,” Hersh said during the June 15 Haysville Board of Education meeting.
The district is looking at purchasing one locker for every secondary student, which could cost anywhere from $150,000 to $180,000.
“That price could go up or down,” Hersh said.
Gillian Macias, the new superintendent, said the district is looking at ways to make the process go smoothly.
“We’re looking at the best locations to put them at, and how to make sure students can drop them off and retrieve them at the end of the day without it being too congested,” she said.
When asked about elementary school, Macias said that isn’t as much of an issue.
“That’s a little bit more manageable, and not as many elementary students carry a phone. We’ll be able to manage that inside the classroom,” Macias said.
Macias said the district will also have to outline disciplinary measures if students do not comply with the policy.
“We’ll handle that, we’ll build that into our matrix and handle that just like any behavioral referral,” Macias said.
One school board member voiced frustration with the new state law.
“This is an unfunded mandate obviously that is somewhat an overreach by our government,” school board member Jennifer Bain said.
The school board will speak more about the cell phone change at their next meeting in July.
“The district will … communicate with families as soon as possible so families can plan for this when school starts in August,” Hersh said.
