TCAPS to look into 'away for the day' cell phone policy

William Perkins, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
Updated ·4 min read

Jun. 13—TRAVERSE CITY — There's a snake wrapping itself around Traverse City Area Public Schools students, said Jon Fazzola, an area attorney.

Speaking at the TCAPS Board of Education meeting Monday, Fazzola referenced the poem "Boa Constrictor" by popular children's poet and lyricist Shel Silverstein. First, it's "nibblin' my toe." Then it proceeds "up to my knee," "up to my neck" and beyond.

"There's a boa constrictor in our schools," Fazzola said: cellphones and social media. "Pinging, glowing, beckoning, all consuming."

Fazzola was one of nearly a dozen community members, teachers, and one 5th grade student, who spoke to TCAPS trustees about the need for an "away for the day" cell phone policy during classroom hours.

Husband and wife Brian and Jill Hammer, two of the members of the public who brought the issue forward, said they raised their concerns at the most recent TCAPS board of education office hours, at Horizon Books late last month.

They were "shocked" to find out that most of the other attendees were there with the same concerns. There has been a significant "grassroots" awareness of the issue that has emerged in the last few weeks, Jill said.

"There's a mountain of evidence that supports that phones are terrible for kids," Jill said.

The presence of phones in schools makes it impossible for the district to carry out its core missions and goals. Those objectives include not just education, but also "individual excellence," and "mental and emotional health and social wellbeing."

Brian also questioned how the board could join a national lawsuit against social media companies — an action which they unanimously took last month — while not addressing the use of phones within school building walls.

Their demand was that the district "remove cell phones from school buildings," requiring that they be powered down and stored in lockers during the school day.

Speakers at the meeting cited the growing reports of isolation and loneliness in the past decade, coinciding with the rise in cell phone use. Some cited statistics similar to those published by Pew research, which shows that about 45 percent of teenagers report being online "on a near constant basis" if no restrictions are put in place.

Also according to Pew, nearly 54 percent of teens say they spend too much time on their phone.

"Listen to me: The kids need us to do this for them. The kids want us to do this for them," said Jody Mackey, a teacher at Traverse City East Middle School.

Trustee Beth Pack, the board member who'd attended that office hours session on behalf of the board, began Monday's meeting with a request to add a discussion on the district's cell phone policy to the agenda for the night.

Board President Scott Newman Bale said the points expressed were "amazingly articulate," and more varied than he'd ever heard during many public comment periods.

Superintendent John VanWagoner said there would be "a lot of tentacles" to any policy change the board decided to make — such as impact to staff. He has already worked with the district's executive team on the subject, and would want to make sure each of the school principals are "a deep part of the conversation," he said.

He said he would look into the policies adopted by other school districts.

Certain districts, including East Lansing, Utica, Bloomfield and Farmington Hills, have already adopted similar policies, according to VanWagoner and community advocates.

"It's pretty enticing to say if they're doing it ... why aren't we leading on this?" said Trustee Josey Ballenger.

The board's curriculum and executive committees will work on possible solutions over at least the next two months, VanWagoner said.

Still, two months "is nothing in government terms," and it will take time to get the policy right, Newman-Bale said.

Reporter Michael Breazeale contributed to this report.

Report for America corps member and data journalist William T. Perkins' reporting is made possible by a partnership between the Record-Eagle and Report for America, a journalism service project founded by the nonprofit Ground Truth Project. Generous community support helps fund a local share of the Record-Eagle/RFA partnership. To support RFA reporters in Traverse City, go to www.record-eagle.com/rfa.