Ontario's policy on student cellphone use starts this fall. Should this northern board dial restrictions up?

When school bells ring in September, there will be a noticeable silence from student cellphones due to a new Ontario policy.

Starting in the 2024-2025 school year, the province will require students in kindergarten to Grade 6 to mute their phones and keep them out of sight at all times. As well, students in Grades 7 and up won't be allowed to use their phones in class, unless it's part of the lesson. 

There are exceptions for special needs.

As a result of the province's ringing in of the new mandate, at least one school board in the north is asking for feedback on whether it needs to further restrict cellphones.

The Rainbow District School Board is the largest public board in northern Ontario, with schools from kindergarten to Grade 12 in Sudbury, Espanola and Manitoulin Island.

The board said it has received about 2,000 responses to the survey on its website.

Staff, administrators, educational support staff, parents, students and the community at large can respond to the survey, which is open until Thursday.

Director of education Bruce Bourget said many survey respondents seem to want the board to go further than the new provincial standards.

"At this point, there's lots of information coming through our survey to say that students in any grades should not have them in class, that they are a distraction to teaching and learning, and that students should just be able to put the phone away," said Bourget.

He said the board is also conducting its own research and he's finding particular inspiration in psychologist Jonathan Haidt's book, The Anxious Generation.

"He spends a considerable amount of time talking about a UNESCO study in 2023 that talks about the harms of a phone-based childhood — things like attention fragmentation, social deprivation, addiction, and outlines some of the benefits to reducing or or having less phone time, such as less social comparisons, generating better community, increasing attention and academic performance."

Bourget said 87 per cent of survey respondents have said they think the amount of social media time is concerning for student mental health and well-being. 

As for past practice, Bourget said student cellphone use has been at teachers' discretion.

Moving forward, Bourget said the province has set "minimum standards," and the board will look at all the information and survey results it gathers over the next few weeks in putting together a more formal policy to be launched this fall.

It's too early to say exactly what it will look like, said Bourget.

Algoma district board to 'tweak' existing guidelines

At the Algoma District School Board, covering schools from White River to Spanish, there won't be any formal survey.

Superintendent of education Joe Maurice said the existing board guidelines on student cellphone use were similar to the policy the province will be imposing.

He said he's glad the government is formalizing the rules for all schools and it will actually be clearer for the district.

He noted some technology is good for accommodating the special needs of some students, and that's now part of the overall policy.