Now that the 2023-2024 school year is in the books, Mathews County’s Superintendent of Schools Dr. David S. Daniel took a look back at the first year of implementation of a division-wide student cell phone policy.

Daniel addressed the issue during the board’s special end-of-year meeting, which was held last Thursday morning in the Mathews High School media center.

In a special meeting last August, just a few days before the start of the school year, the school board adopted a policy that prohibits the possession and use of cell phones and other personal electronic devices by students during the instructional day and on school buses.

Daniel said he finds it interesting that a number of school divisions, both in Virginia and across the country, are moving toward tighter regulations on cell phone use and following Mathews County’s lead.

Overall, feedback from teachers and building administrators has been positive, he said. One interesting side effect of the cell phone policy, Daniel said, is that the MHS cafeteria at lunchtime is much louder, with “more interaction between students” since they aren’t on their devices and are instead talking with one another. He said that he was able to address parents’ concerns and built some trust that they can still contact their children when they need to.
Daniel reviewed the disciplinary data connected with the new policy. At Thomas Hunter Middle School, he said, there were 24 violations reported, with one eighth grader who “led the pack” with four. At MHS, the numbers were considerably higher, with a total of 159 violations. Among those, 96 were first infractions; 39 were second infractions; 19 were third infractions; four were fourth infractions, and there was one fifth infraction.

“I think Thomas Hunter took more of a coaching aspect,” Daniel said, and “provided a little more grace” in the enforcement of the rule. For instance, he said, if a faculty member spotted an outline of a cell phone in a student’s pocket, someone at Thomas Hunter may have just instructed the student to store it in their locker.

Next year, Daniel said, enforcement of the policy will be uniform across the division with any possession of a device considered a violation, so that everyone’s “singing from the same sheet of music.”

School board chairman Dr. Mari Gibbs called it a “qualitative and quantitative success. I’m glad we were on the leading edge.”

In the policy adopted last August, for a first offense, the student surrenders the device and it is placed in the school’s main office. The device may be retrieved at the end of the school day and the parent/guardian is notified. In a second offense, the device will only be returned to a parent or guardian after meeting with the administrator. In subsequent offenses, the student will be assigned up to 10 days of in or out-of-school suspension, as determined by the administrator. The policy was approved last August by a 3-2 vote, with Gibbs and school board member Bobby Dobson voting against it. At that time, the two sought stronger language including an outright ban, as well as greater punishment for those caught violating the policy.

The primary purpose of last Thursday’s special meeting was to close the financial books on the 2023-2024 school year, and the board approved the payment of year-end claims and reviewed its expenditures and revenues for the past year. The board also approved a list of about 80 policy revisions, some new, some edits of existing policies, as provided by the Virginia School Boards Association. The board also approved, by a 4-1 vote (with Gibbs voting nay) to approve the VSBA membership dues for 2024-2025.

At the start of the meeting, Gibbs reported that the chairs and vice chairs of the school board and board of supervisors will hold leadership meetings “to better coordinate with the two boards,” she said. The first of these leadership meetings, she said, is scheduled for July 15.

Following a closed meeting, the board approved the appointment of David W. White Jr. and Michael Ray as assistant football coaches.