Cell Phone Ban Coming To Toms River Schools

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional Board of Education is weighing a policy that would ban the use of cell phones by students during the day, from the time they get on a school bus until they return home after school.

The policy and the district's regulation defining the rules and potential discipline for violations were introduced at the October school board meeting.

A second reading and vote on the policy and regulation 5516 has not been scheduled. The board had a meeting set for Nov. 25 but that meeting has been canceled, according to the district's website.

The policy comes as districts across New Jersey have been implementing bans on cell phone use in schools at the urging of the state Department of Education after years of problems, especially harassment and bullying among students.

According to the policy and regulation introduced in October, students who bring their cell phones to school must keep them in their backpacks or lockers turned off from the time they get on the school bus in the morning or arrive at a before-school program until they get off the bus or go home after school, including during their afterschool sports or activities.

Students also are required to have access to their phones protected with a passcode "to prevent any unauthorized use of the device," the policy says.

Students who need to call their parents during the school day have to ask permission from a teaching staff member to go to the main office to use the school phone, and parents who need to reach their student in an emergency are required to call the main office, under the policy. (The full policy is at the bottom of this article.)

The only exceptions to the policy are for classified students whose electronic communication devices are covered under the student's individualized education plan or those students who have to monitor a health condition — and the use for a health condition must be approved by the principal with the school nurse and documented in the student's indiviual health plan, according to the proposed policy.

Violations of the policy will result in the school confiscating the phone for the remainder of the school day, with second violations resulting in detention and third violations subject to suspension. For second and third violations, the parent or guardian is required to pick up the device from the school.