5137 Use of Electronic Devices
Adoption Date: 11/18/2004, Revised: 08/19/2010, 11/27/2019
5000 - Students
Activities
5137 Use of Electronic Devices
Use of Electronic Devices
Students in grades Kindergarten through 8 may not use any personal electronic communication device (ECD) (including but not limited to cell phone, PDA, MP3 player) during the school day. For purposes of this paragraph, school day is defined to include the time when students are being transported to and from school on a school bus.
Students in grades 9 through 12 are permitted to bring personal electronic communication devices to school; however, they must be turned-off and put away during any instructional time, except when used with the teacher’s prior permission or direction for purposes such as calendaring, calculating and noting assignments. ECDs may be used by students at other times and places as long as such use is not disruptive to the educational process or the operation of the school. It is never appropriate to make or receive telephone calls, text message or send e-mails during instructional time. The inappropriate use of ECDs (such as threatening, vulgar or sexual messages) and the use of an ECD as a weapon are also prohibited.
The Board of Education prohibits the use of recording functions and capabilities of ECDs by students on school property, including on a school bus, except for the purpose of photographing or videotaping public events (e.g., athletic events, plays, concerts, awards ceremonies) or, with prior permission from a teacher or activity advisor, for taking photographs for the Yearbook or School District publications.
If a student uses an ECD in violation of this policy, the following actions will generally be taken:
For the first violation, the teacher or other staff member will confiscate the ECD and return it to the student at the end of the school day;
The ECD will be returned to the parent/guardian after a meeting with the student and the teacher or building administrator.
If a student continues to violate this policy, the student will be considered as insubordinate and subject to discipline in accordance with law and the District Code of Conduct.
In order to ensure examination security, students may not use a cell phone or other ECD or technology or wear headphones during Regents Examinations either in the room where the test is administered or while on a supervised break and until the examination has been completed, handed in and the student has left the examination room. If any such ECD or related technology is used for any reason and under any circumstances in violation of this Policy, the student’s examination will be invalidated and no score will be calculated for the student.[a]
Privacy
The Board of Education prohibits any form of photography, tape recording or video recording of any individual on school property or in school facilities without that individual’s knowledge, as well as the dissemination of any photograph or recording without the individual’s permission. In no event shall any individual take photographs or make a recording in a zone where an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy, including but not limited to locker rooms, lavatories, nurse’s office. In addition, the Board prohibits possessing, viewing, sending or sharing pictures or text having sexual content (“sexting”) in school or at school activities, or from off-campus sites and which are received at school or school activities. A student who violates this policy shall be subject to discipline in accordance with law and the District Code of Conduct.
Responsibility
The decision to bring ECDs to school or school sponsored events rests with the individual student and his/her parents/guardians, and therefore the responsibility for such devices rests solely with the individual student. The School District discourages bringing ECDs to school. The School District assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever in the event that an ECD is damaged, misplaced or stolen during the school day, when on school property or when in attendance at a school sponsored event, whether on or off of school property. The School District further assumes no responsibility or liability for any communication bill associated with the authorized or unauthorized use of said devices.
[a] Section 225 of the Education Law makes fraud in examinations, such as obtaining aid from or giving aid to another person during a Regents Examination, a misdemeanor.