TORONTO — Canada's largest school board is looking into creating a new policy to restrict the use of cellphones and social media by students in schools.
The Toronto District School Board's governance and policy committee has approved a motion calling for a new cellphone policy. The board is set to vote on that motion later this month and if passed, it would launch a process to create a policy that could come out next year.
Board chair Rachel Chernos Lin, who put forward the motion, said the board doesn't currently have a standalone cellphone policy and it's up to the teachers to figure out how to enforce provincial rules embedded in the TDSB code of conduct that restrict cellphone use.
"We don't actually have a policy on cellphones," she said in a phone interview. "So this would signal the beginning of a fairly substantive process that involves a variety of phases."
The Ontario Ministry of Education issued an order in August 2019 to restrict the use of personal mobile devices during instructional time to educational purposes, health and medical purposes, and to support special education needs.
Lin said the process of creating a new cellphone and social media policy at the TDSB would involve looking at what others in Canada, the United States and around the world have done to address the issue.
The process would also involve community consultation so the board can hear from staff, students, families, and community advisory committees, she said.
"This will be a long process," she said. "I would expect it to take many months and I would expect a policy to come out sometime next year during the next school year."
Lin said teachers and school staff currently have different comfort levels and abilities to manage cellphone use in their classrooms, and there's a need for clear procedures to guide them.
"It's time to revisit it, to change the culture around cellphone use in schools and to really establish a new culture around cellphone use in schools," she said. "That's in the best interest of student learning and student success and student achievement."
The president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation said teachers should be able to exercise professional judgment in the classroom.
"If the teacher deems use of a cellphone would be helpful and enhance the learning then they should be allowed to do so," said Karen Littlewood. "But if it is a distraction, there should be something enforceable."
She said teachers need support to enforce any cellphone rules.
"Unfortunately, there often seems to be little support or enforcement from administrators to back the teacher’s decision," she said.
"The teachers try to enforce but 30-plus students in a classroom and no other adult support, it can be very challenging. It turns into a game of whack-a-mole."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2024.
Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press
