Bedford County, Va. – Beginning January 6, 2025, secondary school students in Bedford County will be required to adhere to a new cell phone policy in accordance with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order 33. Under the updated policy, students must turn off their cell phones and store them in locked pouches for the duration of the school day. The new policy eliminates the option to carry a phone during instructional hours.
The executive order seeks to minimize distractions and promote a more focused learning environment for students.
Karen Woodford, Deputy Superintendent for Bedford County Public Schools, explained the reasoning behind the new policy. “We felt like if we really wanted to be true to the governor’s orders and true to the reason why we are going cell phone free, that we needed to implement a locking pouch for the day that kids will lock their phone in,” Woodford said. “At the end of the day, they’ll click on a magnet and unlock it.”
The policy is designed to reduce distractions and encourage students to engage with each other rather than focus on social media or online interactions. “What we’re trying to achieve is more interaction socially with the people around them rather than 200 to 300 followers,” Woodford said.
What are the exceptions?
Students and parents may choose not to bring a phone to school by completing a No Phone Acknowledgement Form, which is available through the district. While all students will be required to use the locked pouches, the district recognizes that some students may need access to their phones for medical reasons.
“The only option is to use the Yondr pouch and place your phone inside, or you and your parents can sign an acknowledgement form stating that you won’t bring a phone to school,” Woodford explained. “The phone can be left in your car, glove compartment, or at home, but it cannot be inside the building during the day.”
Families with students who have medical conditions that require access to a cell phone during the school day can request an exemption. The exemption process involves completing a form, which must be signed by the child’s medical provider. Families should contact their child’s school nurse for further guidance on requesting an exemption.
“We do have students that have diabetic monitors, so they have to look at their phones to check blood sugar and things like that,” Woodford said. “We do have a medical exemption form, and those students will get this pouch,” which features Velcro for additional flexibility.
How does it work?
Pouches will be assigned to students on January 6, 2025, the students will go through a process to “check” out a pouch, once they have them the policy taking effect immediately.
To ensure smooth transitions throughout the day, there will be unlocking stations at each of the school exits. These stations will allow students to retrieve their phones as they leave campus at the end of the day.
In addition, the district has emphasized that students will be responsible for their phone pouches. If a pouch is lost or damaged, the student will be required to pay a $30 replacement fee.
Expectations are that after looking at the data showing the effects of cell phones and social media on children, listening to the concerns of teachers and parents about the adverse impacts cell phones are having on students’ academic and social growth, and deciding to do what is best for their students, that school divisions will adopt cell phone policies that follow the guidance for Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order 33.
School divisions are not required to report their policies to VDOE, but we continue to follow the number of school divisions taking the important step of protecting their students with the adoption of bell-to-bell cell phone policies before the end of this year. This is ultimately a local school board decision and we believe local leaders will put the best policies in place to protect their students. School divisions are encouraged to adopt policies more stringent than the guidance if it is best for their community. We are confident that after speaking to the parents in their communities, the teachers in the schools, and their colleagues in other divisions who have successfully implemented bell-to-bell cell phone policies, school division leaders will understand the importance of this issue and will choose to adopt the bell-to-bell policies in the Executive Order 33 guidance.
The VDOE is committed to continuing to increase awareness around the negative impacts of cell phones and social media, investing in removing barriers to education (see microgrants section of this webpage), and working with our school divisions however we can to help implement cell phone-free education.
Virginia Department of Education
What are the consequences?
The policy adopted by the division has different levels of consequences.
- First offense: Students get a warning and their phone is taken away for a parent or guardian to pick up at the end of the school day
- Second offense: It’s similar to the first offense, except the student will get one day of in-school suspension
- Third offense: Three days of ISS
- Fourth offense: The student gets one day of out-of-school suspension (OSS)
- Fifth offense: Five days of OSS and the student is banned from bringing a device on campus for an entire school year
- Anything beyond this: There will be a 10-day suspension and a disciplinary hearing to consider long-term suspension