The Auburn School Committee last month clarified its cellphone policy, tightening its rules to make the directive more consistent throughout the district.

Meanwhile, officials say the policy is helping students focus during the school day.

Assistant Superintendent Scott Annear said that in the last legislative session, a bill was passed requiring all school districts to have a cellphone policy.

“They didn’t dictate what would be in that policy but you needed to have one,” Annear told the School Committee last month. “The good news is that we had previously had one. So this really was a course in trying to refresh that and use more current language and reflect the practices of what was actually taking place.”

The policy that was adopted was more of a revision “in what we were talking about” than a complete rewrite, Annear said.

The committee adopted a bell-to-bell restriction that keeps phones and other electronic devices out of view or left with the teacher before a class begins.

“Phones must be put away for the entire duration of each class period,” Auburn Superintendent Susan Dorris said. “Students may use their phones between classes and during lunch only.”

“Many classes collect phones at the start of the period, while others allow students to keep devices in their backpacks as long as they remain put away and unused from bell to bell,” Dorris added.

Annear said staff is finding that students are more engaged during class and are not hurrying to complete their work.

“They’re asking questions,” Annear said. “They’re completing work in class. And I think those are some real important indicators of how successful it’s happening. As well as there are the other pieces of having more face-to-face conversations, more follow-through throughout the entire lesson.”

“I appreciate the revisions to the policy,” committee Chair Pamela Albert said. “I also appreciate the way that it’s being implemented. I know other school districts have taken other approaches in the cellphone management. I think that this is a happy medium of, you know, managing the usage during class time, bell to bell, but still making sure that the devices are available for students in the event of an emergency or something.”

The committee unanimously passed the updated policy.