Phones off from the first bell to the last, including lunch

What happened

Piscataway's rewritten Policy 5516 bans students from using internet-enabled devices on school grounds from the bell that starts the day to the bell that ends it, and says explicitly that this covers the time between classes and lunch. Internet-enabled devices means smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and smart glasses, and the social media apps on them. A device brought to school must stay switched off and may have to go into a storage system, password-protected so only its owner can unlock it. Teachers may not build students' own devices into lessons, and instructional time must be entirely free of personal devices; all digital work goes through district-issued devices. Eight exceptions are written in: an IEP accommodation, a 504 plan, a documented health plan, translation, a student who is a caregiver for a family member, a purpose with no reasonable alternative and the superintendent's or principal's authorisation, where the law requires it, and an emergency. Parents can request an accommodation in writing with supporting documentation and must get an answer within five school days.

Why it matters to families

This changes the school day for every student in the district, and for parents it changes how and when they can reach their child. It is the difference between a rule that applies in class and one that applies at lunch and in the corridors too. The exceptions matter as much as the ban: a family that needs an exception has to ask in writing with documentation, and for students with an IEP or 504 plan the arrangement has to be written into that plan.

The evidence

The district's policy manual carries Policy 5516, Student Use of Internet-Enabled Devices, created December 2019 and edited August 2026, setting out the bell-to-bell prohibition under N.J.S.A. 18A:36-40b, the storage and password requirement, the ban on teachers using students' own devices, and all eight exceptions with the five-school-day answer deadline. The August 13, 2026 minutes record the board adopting Policy and Regulation 5516 on first reading, with two residents speaking about it during public comment; the collected corpus does not yet include a second-reading vote.

The source