Cell Phone Rules Among 3 New Initiatives In Baltimore County Schools

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Three new initiatives will debut this year in Baltimore County Public Schools when classes start next week.

In-depth cursive lessons will return to some schools.

Families will also get student attendance and grade reports every Friday morning, WBAL-TV and The Baltimore Sun reported.

"We hope that these reports will help families to support their children's academic progress throughout the school year," BCPS Superintendent Myriam Rogers said at a Tuesday press conference, according to The Sun.

WBAL and The Sun also said cell phone use will now be restricted countywide. Individual schools can give some leeway to middle and high schoolers, The Sun said.

"Essentially (phones are to be) 'off and away' during instructional time," Rogers said, according to WBAL. "I would also, as a former principal, speak directly to parents and say, please, please, please do not call your students during the school day."

The program builds off last year's pilot program that tested restricted phone use.

"We learned that having the phones not far away from the students, where they could get to them if there was an emergency, and build[ing] in certain appropriate times for phone use was a win-win," Rogers said, according to The Sun.

As for cursive, 24 elementary schools will kick off a new pilot cursive writing program beginning on Nov. 3. The pilot starts at the beginning of the second quarter and runs through the end of the 2025 to 2026 school year.

Grades two through four will be included, though individual schools may focus only on one or two specific grades. Educators will learn about the program and how to teach it in October.

Schools that signed up to pilot the cursive writing program are Arbutus, Chadwick, Chapel Hill, Charlesmont, Chatsworth, Dundalk, Halethorpe, Hawthorne, Hebbville, Hernwood, Hillcrest, Middleborough, Middlesex, New Town, Pinewood, Pleasant Plains, Pot Spring, Randallstown, Scotts Branch, Seventh District, Villa Cresta, Vincent Farm, Watershed Public Charter and Woodholme elementaries.

"This pilot is an opportunity to renew the emphasis on cursive writing in our classrooms and explore its benefits more intentionally," Jennifer Craft, executive director for Literacy and Humanities in the BCPS Division of Curriculum and Instruction, said in a press release. "I am excited about the promise this initiative holds for our students."

Cursive never left the curriculum, but it hasn't been emphasized.

Many states dropped formal cursive instruction in 2010 after it was not included in the Common Core State Standards. This year, about half the nation's states require cursive instruction in their public school curricula.

Officials hope the pilot drives increased writing results in areas like note-taking and essay-writing, reinforced spelling and vocabulary proficiency, deeper reading and listening comprehension and a boost to overall writing fluency and academic confidence.

BCPS will evaluate data and first-hand accounts from the pilot to determine whether the program will become a permanent fixture in schools.

"Cursive writing is not just about penmanship; it gives students another powerful tool to grow as confident readers and writers," Craft said. "We are eager to see how this practice will strengthen focus, memory, writing fluency, and communication skills, while reinforcing the literacy foundation that supports long-term academic success."

More details on the cursive initiative are posted here.