TDSB trustees vote in favour of developing updated policy on cell phone use in classrooms

The Toronto District School Board trustees have voted in favour of developing a policy to limit cellphone use in classrooms.

The school board's governance and policy committee approved a motion calling for a new policy on cellphone and mobile device use on Wednesday night. The motion needs to be ratified later this month.

Trustee Rachel Chernos Lin, who represents Ward 11, Don Valley West, said it is important for the board to create a new policy because there is ongoing concern about the issue.

"Because one of the things I've heard the most from, repeatedly, in the five years I've been a trustee and increasingly in the last two years, since the pandemic and since we've been back in school, is that parents and teachers are really concerned about the use of mobile devices: cellphones, smartphones, in schools by students, and its interruption to learning and its impact that it's having in the classroom," she said.

According to the motion, the rule will build on existing policies and be based on cellphone use and child development research. As well, the motion says the board should look at how other school boards and individual schools are dealing with the issue to best support academic success and student mental health. it should also involve consultation, Chernos Lin added.

The motion says research shows cellphone use is "not beneficial to learning."

The board currently has a procedure on cellphone usage that says kids should only be on personal mobile devices for educational purposes, but Chernos Lin has said it's challenging to enforce, can be applied differently in each school and isn't widely known.