The most recent edition of “LPS Latest” has revealed a controversial new policy for the 2024-2025 school year. On May 2, 2024, Littleton Public Schools staff members received an email informing them of device-free classroom policy changes that were unanimously voted in favor of during the LPS Board of Education’s meeting on April 11. The change overall consists of a redefinition of what is considered to be a “personal technology device”; previously, personal devices were considered chromebooks, laptops, tablets, and cell phones. Now, the definition has been expanded to include wearable smart devices like headphones, whether in-ear or over-the-ear, and smart watches like Apple Watches and Fitbits.
For students in grades K-8, personal devices are to remain in lockers or backpacks, silenced or powered off entirely for the full duration of the school day. However, for grades nine and up, personal devices are to remain away during classes, but are available for use during lunches and free periods. Exceptions were acknowledged in the announcement, declaring that the use of personal devices for special circumstances, such as medical monitoring, could be arranged.
The decision was made after gathering input from parents, teachers, district mental health professionals, principals, and, most importantly, high school students. The district claims that the high school students they spoke with agreed that devices in classrooms can have negative consequences. Payton Anderson ’25 offers a testament to the district’s findings, but also proposes a different point of view; “Personally, I agree that cell phones can be a major distraction in class. The restrictions for K-8 make sense, but I feel like the high school age restrictions are a little much. I believe the same restrictions we had this year, where it is at the teacher’s discretion to dictate phone usage, should be applied next year instead of the new policy because high schoolers use phones for more than just social media, especially at school, like to communicate with their parents, listen to music, etc. As well as this, any policy should not apply to smart watches except for tests or similar class activities.”
A Heritage staff member who has chosen to remain anonymous shared a similar standpoint; “I see what the district is aiming for, but I don’t like what they’re doing. I understand that phones are distracting, and I even get distracted by having mine at my desk. However, if my kid were to be in a lockdown, I would want them to have their phone. The thought of my child hiding under a desk with no way to get ahold of me is terrifying, and I think this policy fails to consider scenarios like that.”
The district seems far more adamant about these policy changes than they did at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, when teachers were told to employ a “stoplight system”; a paper circle was displayed in the classroom to indicate phone accessibility throughout class, where a red circle meant no phones out under any circumstances, yellow allowed phone usage for education-related content, and green gave students full access to phones. In light of that system’s failure and the recent development of district-wide technology policies, students should be prepared for harsher technological reinforcement next school year.