ALLEGHANY, Va. – The Alleghany Highlands School Division announced Wednesday that they had finalized revised guidelines to restrict students' use of cell phones and other electronic devices during the school day.
The guidelines were approved Tuesday and will go into effect on Feb. 1.
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AHPS said that they implemented a policy in 2023-204, but implemented its current guidelines after surveying parents online, AHPS also closely followed guidelines adopted in other school divisions.
“We understand that there are many positives and negatives about the ways cell phones are used in our society,” said Kim Halterman and Melinda Snead-Johnson, leaders of AHPS. “We appreciate the importance of this topic and appreciate everyone’s flexibility in making additional changes this school year.”
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The following guidelines have been implemented and will go to effect on Feb. 1.:
— Covington Middle School and Alleghany High School students will not be permitted to use cell phones between classes.
— AHS students will be allowed to use their phones for practical purposes during lunch. Examples include communicating with families, discussing changes to afternoon plans, or contacting employers. Students at CMS will not be permitted to use phones at lunch.
— As per current practice, students in elementary schools will be allowed to bring cell phones to school; however, the phone must be turned off or placed in Do Not Disturb mode.
— AHPS will not be liable for any phone that’s brought to school by a student.
— In cases of emergency, AHPS will contact students’ families. The division uses School Messenger for emergency communications. As a reminder, parents need to keep student contact information up to date by contacting the school the student attends. It is also important for parents not to block their phones from receiving calls from AHPS. All AHPS school offices can be contacted by phone.
“There is a lot of information on cell phones from these sources, and we continue to encourage our community to read these materials,” said Halterman and Snead-Johnson.
