Why Can’t I Have My Phone?: House Bill 959 And How It’s Affecting WCS Students

A cell phone locker hangs in an English classroom. The phone lockers were purchased to be easily removed in case of an emergency. Photo Creds: Rebecca Billette

Rebecca Billette, Editor in Chief of The Powderhorn

Oftentimes, the proceedings of state and local governments can feel distant and irrelevant to teenagers. However, with the first week of school coming to a close, the students of Watauga High School have become intimately familiar with and directly affected by the North Carolina General Assembly’s latest educational policy, House Bill 959.

“The policy prohibits students using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device turned on,” said Dr. Leslie Alexander, Superintendent of Watauga County Schools. “So the device has to be turned off during instructional time.”

There are a few schools of thought on how to comply with House Bill 959. The two primary strategies are “away for the day,” which involves making phones inaccessible to students from the time they arrive at school to when they are dismissed, and “bell to bell,” which requires students to turn off and put away their phones during their classes, but allows them to have access to them between periods and during lunch.

“For K-8 schools, we're going to implement an away-for-the-day policy,” said Dr. Alexander.

Conversely, Watauga High School and Innovation Academy will implement a “bell-to-bell” strategy. Watauga County Schools hopes this will help combat concerns about parents not being able to contact their child during school hours.

“Usually the world doesn't end in 90 minutes,” Dr. Alexander said, “So you can check in with your folks in between that--and then, if a parent needed to get in touch with somebody, we can always call in the front office and we can get information to you during class if we needed to. That's why that passing period with your phone is important and still implemented because you still are able to have that communication between your parent or even, say, another student that's giving you a ride.”

Watauga High School ultimately decided on installing cell phone lockers in each classroom, where students will power off and store their phones during instructional time and can then retrieve them at the end of class. Each cell phone locker is locked with a physical key held by each teacher.

“We did look at the Yondr pouches,” Dr. Alexander clarified, referencing another common strategy that schools, including neighboring Ashe County High School, are implementing to comply with House Bill 959. “If we were going to do the Yondr pouches and do ‘away for the day’, that would be just a little complicated. We also looked at the cost of the Yondr pouches, and it would be about $45,000 to get Yondr pouches for this school. They have to be replaced every four years, and then, additionally, there's supposedly hacks for them.”

The cell phone lockers, being more simplistic and cost-effective, also address a concern about what would happen to stored phones in case of an emergency.

“These are good for a couple of reasons,” Dr. Alexander said, “They’re portable, so if, for example, there's a fire alarm, people have to go outside in the middle of the day- of course kids would be nervous about leaving their cell phones in the classroom, because they're very protective of those. This is portable, and the teacher can pick it up, leave the classroom, and bring it back to the classroom.”

House Bill 959 allows for certain exceptions that permit students to have access to wireless communication devices. These include when they are permitted by a teacher to be used for learning purposes or when a student needs them for medical purposes.

“There's some students that have an IEP, a 504, or a medical plan that requires them to have a device that interacts with their cell phone.” Dr. Alexander explained, “Maybe they have diabetes or some other need. Those students, of course, will be allowed to have those out. And we'll work with families individually on those needs.” 

Additionally, House Bill 959 requires certain curriculum inclusions in elementary, middle and high school that educate on social media and internet safety.

“Some of the curriculum changes, we're going to be waiting on DPI to exactly tell us how and where that's supposed to show up, but basically there's going to be some instruction on social media and its ill effects on health, including social, emotional, and physical health, and they're going to tell us when we have to cover those topics," said Dr. Alexander. "I will tell you, though, we already have some curriculum in place that we can start some of these conversations with.”

There are many logistics still to be determined when accommodating this new state law, and many mixed feelings surrounding it, but Watauga County Schools is prioritizing open communication and collaboration among its staff, students, and families.

“Teachers aren't going to be used to this. Parents aren't going to be used to this. So we're all going to have to figure out what's reasonable,” Dr. Alexander said, “We might not all even agree with the law, but we're going to figure out how to best implement it in support of our students and our teachers and our families.”