Discussion Tuesday On School Cell Phone Ban In Westport

WESTPORT, CT — The Westport Board of Education will host a Community Conversation from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, in the Coleytown Middle School Auditorium to discuss a districtwide ban on the use of cell phones by students during the school day.

Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice on Monday sent out the following message to the school community about Tuesday's meeting:

The focus of the evening is to gather community input on my June 2024 recommendation to restrict student access to smartphones and wearable technology during the school day across all grade levels. The goal is to implement this in a way that does not rely on faculty and staff for the primary enforcement of these restrictions.

The discussion will be moderated by respected Westport educator and former RTM Moderator, Velma Heller, who will facilitate a series of prompts to guide participant feedback.

Additional Updates:

• Wilton High School implemented a phone free initiative last November. Since then, we’ve closely monitored their experience and conducted a site visit in February, which offered valuable insights. This visit was covered by Staples Newspaper, Inklings, in their March edition. See pages 14-16.
• A report was provided to the Wilton BOE last week by their building administration and three representative students. Please see the Wilton BOE presentation beginning at the 1:04 mark (student commentary at 1:21).
• Although a final report will be compiled by Hanover Research and available later this week, preliminary results from our district survey show:
• 70% of faculty strongly support or somewhat support a phone-free school environment.
• 59% of parents strongly support or somewhat support the initiative.
• Only 7% of students support or somewhat support it.