Phones away from the first bell to the last, all year

What happened

The division's 2026-2027 code of conduct sets a full school-day ban on personal devices. Elementary students may not use personal technology at all during the school day. Middle and high school students must keep phones, tablets, earbuds and personal gaming devices silent, out of sight and stored in a backpack, locker or a teacher-designated spot from the first bell to the last, including between classes, at lunch and in bathrooms.

Why it matters to families

This is the rule a student meets every day. It decides whether a phone can come out at lunch or between classes, and it changes how a parent reaches their child during the school day. Families can ask for an exemption in writing, and students who use a stored phone during a real emergency are not penalised.

The evidence

The 2026-2027 Encouraging Positive Student Conduct and Safety Handbook contains a section headed "Student Cell Phone and Smart Device Possession and Use" setting out these conditions in full, including the definition of an "instructional setting", the written exemption route through a Section 504 plan, individualised education plan or health care plan, and a discipline range from a warning to in-school suspension with the explicit limit that "No student will be suspended or expelled solely for a violation of this policy". The handbook is the division's published rulebook for the year; it does not say when the board adopted this version.

The source