The Putnam County School Board is one step closer to finalizing a new cell phone policy after the board approved a second reading on Thursday.
School Board Member Kim Cravens said a good portion of the feedback received from parents was about children not having cell phones during emergencies. Cravens said she understands the fear that parents would have during an emergency but believes the fear should not control the decision on the cell phone policy.
“I want my students to pay attention to what they’re doing instead of being focused on trying to get ahold of their mom and dad,” Cravens said. “And it’s like you said the last time we had something happen as a lockdown at Cookeville High School, you had parents trying to go to the school, you had kids telling their parents the way wrong thing and it was just like we don’t need that to happen.”
School Board Chair Lynn McHenry said the board could still make some changes to the policy as it has yet to reach the final reading. Cravens said she would like to remove the portion of the policy that allows some students to use cell phones during instructional time.
“I feel that the current policy as we have it gets abused,” Cravens said. “Some teachers follow it and some don’t and I don’t like that pressure on people who are rule followers and those who want to try and bend the rules that if there’s a device that needs to be used we should be supplying that as a school system.”
Warren County School Board Members Chris Cope and Tommy Cullwell were in attendance and spoke about their respective cell phone policy. Cravens said she doesn’t want the punishments to be as tough on students as Warren County’s policy is.
“We did look at doing some in-school suspension and so forth,” Cravens said. “But at the same time, our goal is for kids to be in the classroom, and we didn’t want that to be a penalty, so there is some other things that they are required to do as opposed to doing that. I do think that our ultimate goal is we want kids in the classroom learning.”
School Board Member Jill Ramsey said many students provided feedback on the cell phone policy. The policy will go to final reading in the next board meeting in April.
In other business, the board approved a retention policy.
The board approved a resolution regarding the Education Freedom Act. The resolution was approved so the teachers could get a $2,000 bonus from the state. McHenry said the board still stands against school vouchers. Cravens said she was perplexed that the state required them to pass a resolution in order for the teachers to get the bonuses.
