Henrico Schools begins school year with stricter cell phone rules

Henrico Schools welcomed students back Monday to a “phone-free” school year with a new expectation: all teachers must collect students’ cell phones at the beginning of each class and place them in division-provided storage containers until class ends.

This school year will be the first year HCPS will enforce a “bell-to-bell” cell phone ban, meaning students are not allowed to have their phones out between when the first bell rings and the dismissal bell rings. Students also must keep their phones away in their backpacks while changing classes in the hallways and during lunch. 

Last year, HCPS allowed teachers to either use storage containers, such as phone pouches or lockboxes, during class or require students to place phones in their backpacks. Mandating teachers to use the storage containers will create more consistency, said HCPS Superintendent Amy Cashwell.

Students also were allowed to use their phones during class changes and lunch last year, meaning that enforcing the new bell-to-bell policies could be dificult, said Henrico School Board Vice-Chair Madison Irving (Three Chopt District), who also is a teacher at James River High School in Chesterfield.

“Speaking from personal experience, hallways and the cafeteria during lunch is going to be extremely challenging,” Irving said at an Aug. 14 school board meeting. “And I think having a process by which kids know that if it is out during that time, they will be caught, even if it’s not till the next day, helps with enforcement.”

But Irving said the change is “much-needed” for HCPS students, and encouraged staff to strictly enforce the new rules.

“I think the kids will even grow to like it,” he said. “Even though right now, they’re probably upset that it’s happening.”

Cashwell said that the stricter phone rules last year saw “a lot of success” and that the division hopes to limit distractions even more this year.

“We had very minimal disruption last year. I think we should give big applause to our students for their ability to follow the procedures really well and very quickly,” she said. “Going into the school year, it may not be perfect in each and every classroom or school, but we’ll certainly be there to support our administrators and teachers.”

However, many teachers felt that last year’s enforcement of “phone-free” rules did not go very smoothly. According to an online survey administered by HCPS last school year, 60% of middle and high school teachers said they encountered phone-related issues either daily or weekly.

Enforcing the stricter rules will be a “team effort” between schools and families, said Henrico School Board Chair Marcie Shea (Tuckahoe District).

“It can’t just be something parents are trying to solve or just something that schools are trying to solve,” she said. “We can be consistent across things in our school building, but if we’re really looking at impact on cell phones, not just on instruction but on our youth as a whole, it has to be a team effort.”’

Schools are 96% staffed for the first day

Henrico Schools has 96% of full-time classroom teacher positions filled for the first day of school, according to HCPS spokesperson Eileen Cox. Board substitute teachers and daily substitute teachers will fill in the rest of those vacancies for the first week, she said.

HCPS was also able to recruit enough school bus drivers to prevent any double-runs this school year, and has 100% of front-line cafeteria worker positions filled.

More facilities and custodial staff has also helped prevent major maintenance issues this summer, said school board member Kristi Kinsella (Brookland District). 

“Normally at this time of year, I’m hearing complaints,” she said. “Let me just say, our custodial services team really knocked it out. I don’t know how much overtime we paid over the summer, but I know that custodial services is better staffed than we were.”

HCPS also has a total of 157 school security officers for the school year, with an extra seven officers for middle and high schools with open campuses.

The division is still looking to recruit more substitute teachers, school nutritional workers, custodians, substitute bus drivers, school security officers, instructional assistants, and full-time classroom teachers.

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s government and education reporter. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.