Decatur City Schools bans cellphones from some classrooms

Published 11:18 am Friday, August 10, 2018

DECATUR (AP) — A school system in Alabama will no longer allow students to use cellphones in its high school and middle school classrooms.

Local news outlets quote Decatur City Schools Superintendent Michael Douglas as saying cellphones won’t be allowed in those classrooms when school starts next week.

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Douglas says the move comes as the system begins to provide high school students with Chromebooks. He says the ban is to “protect the classroom” and ensure the Chromebooks are used for instructional purposes. Students will be allowed to use their cellphones during lunch and in hallways.

The system’s teachers used to be able to set their own policies for cellphones in class. The state Department of Education allows students to carry cellphones, but gives individual school systems the ability to limit cellphone use.