Spokane middle schoolers won’t be allowed to use their phones during lunch, the district concludes

Spokane Public Schools will prohibit cell phone use during middle school lunchtime next year, the district concluded.

On Wednesday, the school board gave feedback on a proposal draft to restrict cell phone use in schools.

After reviewing a survey of students, staff and families and asking the board’s opinion, the district will move forward with suggestions to make their draft more restrictive at the middle school level, Superintendent Adam Swinyard said.

The drafted policy initially allowed for middle schoolers to use their phone during their 30-minute lunch break. Board members advised a lunchtime ban would instill habits in kids that carried to high school, and the consistent policy all day would be easier for students to follow and staff to enforce.

“The lunch period is just still a limited amount of time,” board member Jenny Slagle said at Wednesday’s meeting. “Logistically in order for staff to disperse them and make sure that they’re put away after lunch too, it just seems more complicated.”

The policy allows high school students to use phones during lunch and between classes, but not in classrooms. Elementary schoolers can use theirs before and after school, but not during lunch or class.