Spring-Ford May Allow Student-Use of Electronic Devices

Superintendent David Goodin and board president Joseph Ciresi made an important announcement at Monday night's Spring-Ford Area School District board of education meeting.

"We are currently trying to build the framework to utilize technology in the district to a higher degree," Goodin said, speaking of the allowed (controlled) usage of technological devices by students during the school day.

Ciresi told the public that this is an important policy, which is often talked about. Ciresi is under the belief that students are "surpassing us in technology." Not allowing the usage of technology, such as computers or e-readers, is making Spring-Ford students fall behind the curve, according to Ciresi.

Ciresi and Tom DiBello both expressed interest in moving the process forward quickly.

"I want to see this happen much, much, much sooner than later," said Ciresi. "By winter break. There will be bumps in the road, but we will have to deal with those just like in any other policy."

Currently, the resolution has a list of guidelines that could become a policy under the administration's direction. Highlights from the current guidelines include:

• Definitions: Personal Electronic Device or PED is an electronic device that emits an audible or visual signal, displays a text message, visual image or otherwise summons the user of the device in some manner. This definition of this term includes, but is not limited to, CD/DVD/audio cassette tape players, cellular telephones, digital audio players (iPods or MP3 players), digital cameras, digital video recorders, electronic e-mailing devices, laptop computers, tablet computers (iPads and similar devices), pagers, portable game players, radios, smart phones, video cameras or any device that provides a wireless connection to the Internet.
• Usage: Use is defined as (1) Carrying or possessing a personal electronic device that is either visible (regardless if i is "on" or "off") or can be heard; and (2) A personal electronic device that emits an audible signal, vibrates, is in "sleep mode," displays a message or otherwise summons the device user. A personal electronic device in an "off" position and stored out-of-sight in a back pack, bookbag, pocket, purse, vehicle, etc. shall not be deemed "in use."
• Prohibitions: Summarized as students not allowed use during instructional and non-instructional times during the school day, including homeroom, study halls, lunch periods and the time between classes unless a teacher or school administrator has authorized the use. Locker rooms, bathrooms and nurses' offices are also non-permitted use zones. Students cannot use the devices to bully, harass or threaten others and cannot take, display or transfer videos depicting nude or partially nude individuals.
• Permitted Use: Permitted use is summarized as for instructional purposes with permission of teachers and building administrators. Devices may be used outside of the school so long as they do not disrupt school activities, violate any of the prohibitions set forth by the policy, violate state or federal law or violate a board policy or directive associated with a student's participation in interscholastic athletics, extracurricular activities or school-sponsored trips.
• Penalties: Building principals, teachers and security personnel are authorized to confiscate a student's personal electronic device when used in violation of this policy. All confiscated personal electronic devices shall be delivered to the building principal's office as soon as practical for return to student at the end of school day or the student's parent/guardian for a second or subsequent offense. School administrators may impose additional disciplinary sanctions against students for policy violations, including suspensions from school or recommendations for expulsion from school as warranted by the fact and circumstances in a particular use.

With these guidelines, some board members still had concerns, including Julie Mullin, who didn't think teacher/administrative permission should be a deciding factor, especially with the new Ram Reading initiative, where e-readers have potential to be used. Goodin combatted the concerns.

"With any tool used in class, the teacher must have the authority to decide when and when it is to be used," Goodin said, using calculators as an example of an older piece of technology with permitted classroom use in some circumstances. "[Ram Reading] is how all this started. Under the past policy, e-readers aren't even allowed."

Goodin cautioned the board about the urgency of the policy's passing.

"I don't want to throw it open for students to do whatever they want regardless of what a teacher says," said Goodin. "I don't want to go from zero to 60 on this. I know where we want to be. We want to utilize the tools to have proper educational progression."

Patch caught up with Ciresi after the meeting for a quick Q&A. Here's a recap:

LRSC Patch: If a student is allowed to use a computer to take notes in the classroom, as mentioned earlier, how do you combat the use of Facebook, Twitter, personal email accounts, etc?

Joseph Ciresi: First of all, the district will try and block all the sites. Can the kids get around it? We all know you can hack into anything from anywhere. No different than a kid writing a note to another kid, a kid reading a magazine during class – the teacher’s got to be on top of it. If the teacher catches them doing it, this is a privilege and the privilege has to be taken away. And that’s really what I think the whole discussion of the board tonight is that this is a privilege that we’re going to offer and we’re allowing you to type in and go on the web when the teacher says it’s okay.

Patch: What about the use of an iPad, where potentially dangerous "apps" can be downloaded at home and brought into school with no clear-cut way of regulating use?

Ciresi: That’s part of what the discussion on guidelines are within the guidelines and parameters. It’s also a parental thing. What that kid has on his or her iPad when they come in the building, parents have to take responsibility for if they want their kids to do this. They have to understand what can and can’t be in the school. The policy does address a lot of different subject areas but will still be under review.

The thing to understand when we review this is we look at all the negatives. What if, what if, what if? What if an 18-year-old gets in a car and crashes it? Do we allow them not to get in the car anymore? There’s always going to be something that’s going to happen along the way. The problem is, this generation is now computer savvy and we’re not allowing them to grow in that area. As a district, we’re beginning to fall backwards. Do we even need textbooks anymore since everything’s online? My kid had a 20-pound bag. A little child carrying around that much weight… Put all of that on an iPad or a computer and what is that? Three pounds? There are a lot of roadblocks and there are a lot of good questions and they’ll have to be addressed as we go along. That’s why Dr. Goodin says he doesn’t want to run and jump into it, but we would hope that our student body is responsible enough to take this step and move forward. We do have a responsible student body.

Patch: Do you think your goal of having this policy in place by winter break is obtainable?

Ciresi: Yes. This hasn’t just been a discussion last week. We’ve been discussing this for two years. We finally have an administration that’s willing and sees that this is the right direction. It’s not like two weeks ago, we took this at a policy meeting, we brought this up tonight and the administration heard it for the first time. This conversation has been going on. I think that’s where the board has been a little frustrated. We’re not going another six to eight months on this. We’ve been talking about this for a year-plus. This needs to move. You should know what the issues you feel are. Let’s get them on the table and start the process of getting this in the classrooms. I don’t think we’ll allow this in lower level classrooms. I think it will probably be the high school that begins it. Maybe in the future, we’ll move it down into other grades, but it will be mostly secondaries that we’ll start at.

There’s also another benefit of do we need to have so many computer labs in the buildings? What’s the cost savings of having the kids bring their own devices in the buildings? On that side of it, there could be substantial savings in the district. Having said that, I’m not saying we put students’ safety in jeopardy to save money. That’s not it at all. But, again, you saw tonight, five administrators here with five computers out. What were they doing? Work, I assume, but you never know. We’re saying they can do that, but our kids can’t? Do as I say, not as I do.

Patch: Any other comments?

Ciresi: I’m excited to see this happen. I’m not computer savvy. I know how to get around somewhat, but I see that our children are. This is an exciting time. The most exciting was to see the teachers using smart boards and to see how engaged the students are in education, again. We’re always going to have kids texting back and forth. That’s when you go up to them and say you lost the privilege. That’s how they learn. No different than writing notes and passing it around the classroom. The difference is the modern technology where they text it. The point is, we need to move this process forward and I’m hoping we can do it before winter break.