TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The recent shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia has raised concerns about school safety in the Tampa Bay area.
Parents are now voicing their concerns over new policies limiting cellphone usage in schools.
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School officials said there are a few misconceptions when it comes to cellphone policy during an emergency, and the policy was created to keep students safe.
“I think there’s not one of us in Florida after what happened in Parkland that aren’t a student of the game…Do we have those kinds of vulnerabilities here and how can we fix them,” Chief of Security and Emergency Management for Hillsborough County Schools, John Newman, said.
The question is whether the schools cellphone policy is loose enough for parents to be able to communicate to their kids in the event of an emergency. The latest Hillsborough County policy allows high schoolers to have their phones during the school day, but only at lunch. For every other grade, phones can only be used before or after school.