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Minutes for HB2641 - Committee on Education
Short Title
Requiring school districts to prohibit the use of privately owned electronic communication devices during school hours.
Minutes Content for Wed, Feb 14, 2024
The hearing on HB2641 was opened.
Jason Long explained the bill which would ask local board of education in each district to adopt policies and procedures to restrict the use of cell phones by students during normal school hours. (Attachment1)
Gretchen Shanahan spoke in favor of the bill and about the dangers of children having cell phones in an emergency situation and how it actually makes it more dangerous for the students. A building policy works when it is enforced. (Attachment2)
Lindsay Cravens and Mindi Dobson spoke in favor of the bill and about Stockton High School being a phone free school. The students put their phones in a Yonder bag in the morning and remove them at the end of the day. Most of the students keep the bags in their lockers. Year to date this year, there has been no phone violations. (Attachment 3)
Kim Whitman testified in favor of the bill and stated that students are staring at their phones all day and many are worried that they will be video taped and have the video posted on line without their permission. (Attachment 4)
The proponents stood for questions.
Opponents:
Shannon Kimball stated that local school boards should be making the decisions since they were best equipped to work with their teachers, families and district leadership to make the decisions.(Attachment 5)
Timothy Graham stated that this is a local control issue .(Attachment 6)
The opponents stood for questions.
The hearing on HB2641 was closed.
