LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — After the school bell rings at the start of the day, some "ringing" continues in many classrooms. It's why one Charlotte-area school district is considering broad-sweeping changes to its cell phone policies.
Lancaster County schools started polling parents this week about cell phone use within schools.
The current policy generally requires cell phones to be unseen and unheard, but that policy is often not enforced.
In fact, School Safety Director Bryan Vaughn says some schools permit students to use cell phones for instructional purposes or to listen to music; in some cases, decisions are made classroom by classroom.
The district is hoping to overhaul and enforce the new policy consistently.
"If you go into one high school in a history class it needs to be the same as another history class in another school," Vaughn said. "What we're having is an inconsistency, and it sends a bad message to our kids."
Teachers complain cell phones have become such a distraction that they are losing valuable minutes of instructional time policing the use of cell phones.
The district has reported incidents of students using cell phones to cheat on assignments and tests, check their social media and engage in harmful cyberbullying.
Vaughn says they are trying to cut back on the negative use of cell phones, and the distraction they present during the instructional time.
"The only way that you can get to the point of not interrupting class is to say, 'We're not gonna have them out period during this time period,'" Vaughn said.
Based on preliminary poll results, the overwhelming majority of parents expressed concern about being able to reach their children in the event of an emergency.
Vaughn says he sees cell phones as a valuable tool in those situations.
"It's a different era we live in," he said. "We encourage kids to use those phones in an emergency."
Vaughn says for that reason alone, he does not foresee a scenario where cell phones are completely banned. Instead, Vaughn says they are exploring limits on the times and places where students can use their phones.
"You want kids to be able to talk to their parents before school and after school and maybe even during the lunchtime," Vaughn said.
Vaughn says school administrators see less need for cell phones as instructional tools now that every student now has access to a chrome book or laptop.
South Carolina state law allows school districts to confiscate cell phones from students who do not follow school policies. The same law permits school administrators to hold those cell phones for an indefinite amount of time before returning them.
Vaughn says at the peak of the problem, district leaders had confiscated 900 cell phones in one year.
MORE ON WCNC CHARLOTTE: