HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Virginia leaders are calling on school districts to adopt policies that would essentially ban cell phone use in schools as students return to the classroom on Monday.
Governor Glenn Youngkin (R – Virginia) has called on school districts to adopt his Executive Order 33 after months of public meetings. The Virginia Department of Education outlined the recommendations it planned to provide school systems around the state in a draft released last week.
CBS 6 found school districts like Hanover and Richmond Public Schools already prohibit cell phone use in the classroom.
Henrico and Petersburg Public Schools require students to put phones inside a pouch during classroom instruction.
Tara Courtland’s eldest child attended Tucker High School in Henrico County when they implemented a no cell phones policy in classrooms at the end of the previous school year.
“My child was very worried about it at first, but turned out it was fine. I don’t have a problem on a school level with them doing it. I have a problem on a sweeping administrative level for making a huge policy about it statewide or even county-wide,” she explained.