The Sibley-Ocheyedan school board approved on Monday night a ban on personal devices that can receive a cellular signal in the wake of recent harassment issues in the school district.
The board took recent activity on the social media app Yik Yak, as well as what some deem to be the general distraction that cell phones and other personal devices create in the educational environment, into consideration during Monday’s meeting.
The district’s new policy on personal communication devices is effective immediately and states that “devices that can receive a cellular signal are not to be brought into the school building. The fire department cadets will have pagers. No Bluetooth or cell phone earpieces of any kind are allowed during the school day. These items will be immediately confiscated.
“Students who need their personal device for medical purposes will need to have the school nurse notify the building principal so an exception to this policy can be granted. Devices falling under this regulation will be confiscated for the day for the first offense and a parent or guardian will be required to come to the office to retrieve. The second offense will result in a five-day out-of-school suspension. The third offense will result in a 10-day out-of-school suspension and recommendation to the school board for expulsion.”
