RICHMOND, Va. -- The Virginia Department of Education is set to release the final guidelines on Monday for school districts to become cellphone-free zones by the start of next year.
The process began in the summer when Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued Executive Order 33 directing VDOE to come up with guidelines.
According to the draft, elementary school students would not be allowed to have cell phones in the building or on school grounds. If a parent decided their child should have a phone, it would have to be off and stored away during school.
The state would leave it up to localities how to store cellphones -- like in a pouch, locker, or backpack.
In middle and high schools, students would not be allowed on their phones during instructional time, lunch or between periods. More flexibility would be allowed both before and after school.
A recent Washington Post-Schar School poll found broad support for the idea, with 69% of respondents in favor of it and 45% who were "strongly" in support of them.
School districts and states around the country are having similar discussions and the high school shooting in Georgia a few weeks ago drew attention to the desire of parents to get in touch with their kids in such cases.
The draft guidelines said districts will develop plans on communicating with parents in the case of a school emergency.
Once the guidelines are released, schools will see if what they have in place already meets or exceed the statewide policies. If not, they have to have new policies in place by the end of the year and fully implemented by January 2025.
Richmond Public Schools (RPS) Superintendent Jason Kamras said while he does not always agree with the Youngkin administration's school policies, this is a subject he feels they are heading in the right direction on.
"Cell phones have become a huge distraction in school," Kamras said. "Think just about every parent has experienced this themselves with their own children and so I 100% support the direction that the state is going."
Kamras said RPS will be holding a series of public discussions on what its cellphone policy will look like, beginning on Thursday, Sept.19 at 7 p.m. at Richmond Community High School.
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