BETHEL — The debate over Telstar’s new cell phone policy has, for now, reached a conclusion. This debate was begun back in November of 2024, through one workshop and two school board meetings. A final reading of the cell phone policy was presented and approved at the Jan. 27 meeting of the SAD 44 Board of Directors.

The final decision was made after a survey was sent out to teachers, asking them how much of an issue cell phones were in their classes. From a pool of 19 high school teachers, 12 responses were received. Most of the teachers reported back that cell phone misuse was a minor issue, and those that reported it being a problem mostly had issues on a student to student basis, not a full class.

The board also discussed how much they should influence the direct actions taken in classrooms, calling it a procedural versus policy issue. “Our job is to ensure schools are run well, not run them,” said Erin Cooley. One of the issues discussed by teachers was that there is a lack of a universal system, as every teacher runs their classroom differently. The board was generally in agreement that teacher autonomy should be respected, and that this issue was more on an individual classroom basis.

Scott Cole continued to be adamantly against any cell phones in school. In response to the fact that some teachers have collection bins in their rooms for the phones he said, “There should be just one bin – at the door when they come in.” He proposed looking into a system used by other schools to secure student phones during the day, and have them returned to students once the school day is over.

Final policy of cell phone use has primarily been moved to the student handbook, after the board expressed worries of being too directly involved in direct administration of the schools themselves. Current reading rules that students may not use electronic devices “in any manner that disrupts the instructional process or violates Board policy or school rules.” Consequences are no longer outlined in the policy, and have been relocated to the student handbook.