Jul. 19—Using guidance from the state regarding cellphone use in public schools during emergency situations, the Newton Community School District leaders stressed that teachers should still enforce the no cellphone use policy and recommended families should not try to contact their kids in the event of a crisis.
Superintendent Tom Messinger shared this information during an update of the school’s emergency operations plan. He prefaced that the document is not something that gets shared publicly for security and safety reasons. Still, he wanted to talk to board members about some procedures for cellphone use.
Earlier this year, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill — that has since been signed by the governor — restricting cellphone use in schools during instructional time. Messinger said the law contained other components requiring schools to address related issues, like how parents can contact or get information to their child.
“Then it also very specifically says your emergency operations plan has to have a component in there that addresses cellphone use,” Messinger said to Newton News in a follow-up interview after the meeting. He noted the law requires the school to now modify its emergency operations plan to reflect the changes.
Messinger said it has always been recommended to enforce cellphone policies during emergencies in school, because it could break down communications. He told school board members that the new legislation says it is the responsibility of the district to restrict student cellphone/electronic device use during the day.
While much of the emergency operations plan is not openly available to the public, Messinger argued some details in the document need to be addressed openly because it involves the responsibilities of parents and guardians. The superintendent said a document needs to be created for them for this purpose.
“We need to have a document telling parents here’s what you could expect from this type of situation,” Messinger said.
In the event of a tornado or an intruder or any type of lockdown, Messinger said, per board policy, that parents should not attempt to reach students through personal electronic devices. Messinger said the district will be working on an information campaign to inform parents and the community of these policies.
“On one hand we’re saying communication with cellphone through the students is not acceptable, but also everybody can’t call the main office either,” Messinger said. “There are just not enough people or phones to answer every phone call that comes in. The responsibility comes on to the school.”
National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based school safety consulting firm, has historically discouraged the use of cellphones by students in the event of a crisis, saying they can be a distraction, hamper rumor control and impede public safety response by accelerating parental arrival at the scene.
Students rushing to use their phones could overload communications systems in some areas and have a detrimental effect on public safety communications.
Messinger said schools all across the country have found out that parents will often have a hard time even reaching their kids if there truly is a crisis. The cellphone systems will be overwhelmed, which could pose problems if authorities are trying to contact people within the school building.
“Panic is going to ensue because people can’t get ahold of anybody,” he said. “So that’s why it’s really important for the school district to communicate out: ‘Here’s what you can expect in an emergency situation.’ So this document that’s 59 pages long, we’ve got to create the parent version of this.”
School board members acknowledged many parents will not like being told they should not contact their child during an emergency. Travis Padget emphasized that parents be reminded that the cellphone policies are being prescribed by the state government and not the school board or school district.
“It’s not our decision on that, but that’s what we’re given,” Padget said. “I think it’s important because people won’t hear that and they’ll think, ‘Oh that Tom Messinger!’ … We are responsible enforcing something for the legislators. I just think it’s important for the community to know that.”
Messinger said, “Whether all of us who are employed by the school like it or not, it’s the law and it’s board policy and we’re all responsible for following that.
“No exception.”