---

Cell phone use has become a problem at the Chisago Lakes Middle School, and after a year on the job, principal Todd Warzecha laid out the plan to curb use in the building whenhe spoke at the regular school board meeting Thursday, July 13.

Policy is students could not use their cell phone as part of instructional time unless given permission by the teacher, but were allowed to use their phones at passing time and lunch.

The new plan, which the board approved unanimously,  means  students will now have to leave their cell phones in either their backpack or their locker and turn them off “from bell to bell” according to Warzecha. That means students can use cell phones before school and after school, but at no point during the school day, including passing time and lunch hour.

Warzecha emphasized that a phone being tucked in a student’s pocket doesn’t comply with the new rules. “If a cell phone is in a person’s pocket, and it buzzes, that person — whether they are 50 years old or 12 years old — are going to think, ‘who’s trying to get a hold of me?’” the principal said. “If it’s in their pocket, there’s temptation, which is why I feel we need the separation.”

The ban of cell phone use at the middle school was a topic last summer, as well, but Warzecha asked the board to table it at that time so he could get the full picture of the issues. He also wanted to survey students, teachers and parents on the issue and get their viewpoint.

Warzecha went through those survey results at the board meeting. The parents  — 353 of them responded —and staff were overwhelmingly in support of limiting the use of cell phones within the building. 

One of the questions posed to all three groups was, “Do we need cell phones to experience social, emotional and academic success?”

Not surprisingly, parents and staff answered a resounding ‘no’, with 87 percent of parents responding that way, and 92 percent of staff feeling cell phones weren’t needed.

But, even with the lowest percent, the most telling number may be that 40 percent of middle school students actually agreed that they do not need their cell phones to experience social, emotional or academic success.

Warzecha shared an anecdote from supervising lunches last year. While he admitted he wasn’t there every day as his job as the principal pulls him in many different directions, in his time in the lunchroom, he said between 30 and 50 percent of the students at lunch were on their phones watching videos or playing games and not engaged or socializing with other students.

The most alarming stat, however, is cell phone related incidents at the building. Warzecha said there were over 2,300 “incidents” at the middle school last year, which he said is the highest in the district, and he estimated that 50 to 60 percent of those incidents involved a cell phone.

“The number one thing for me when I took this job was to ensure that I create an environment where everyone feels safe, valued, important and respected,” he explained. “I think this policy will help that and it’s best for all of our students, their academics, their mental health and their social and emotional learning.”

Board member Jeff Lindeman asked about the part of the policy restricting passing time, and if a student could go to their locker and check their phone. That’s when Warzecha said if they opened that proverbial door, they’d potentially have more tardiness with students taking time on their phone between classes, and more students using the old ‘I need to go to the bathroom’ trick to get out of class. Lindeman agreed with the policy, but he said he just wanted clarification.

Warzecha’s last point, which has been a concern of limiting cell phone use, was that if a parent wanted to get ahold of a student, they can still go the traditional route of calling the school’s office and having a note passed to the student, or e-mailing their student, as youth still have access to Chromebooks or laptops

The board was unanimously in adopting the new policy and shared words of support for Warzecha before voting it through.

Other agenda business went by briskly during new Superintendent Brian Dietz’s first official meeting. The board accepted Kemps for the annual milk bid. They were the only company that bid, and the raise in price was a fraction of a cent.

The meeting, which was convened at 7 p.m., was adjourned at 7:39 p.m.

---