CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On Tuesday, Corpus Christi Independent School District announced a new cell phone policy for students amid concerns from parents and teachers that electronic devices are a distraction.
Marvin Baker Middle School Principal Sarah Owen is looking forward to see the policy in place when school starts on Monday.
"It's very exciting to know that I can walk into our cafeteria and I can see my students engaging in conversation and finding friends that they can talk with at this time where they're allowed to be very social and knowing that when we're in classrooms, it's all about student learning," Owen said.
The expectations vary slightly depending on what grade your child is in.
"Pre-K through eighth grade, our students' expectations [are] that they will not have an electronic device throughout our school day which is our bell-to-bell," Owen said.
Harold C. Kaffie Middle School Principal Stevie Swanson said high school students will be allowed to use their phones in between classes and during lunch.
"For our high school campuses, they will allow cellphones only in hallways and during the cafeteria time because we understand that our high school students have a little bit more obligations which could include work, some of our students do have children, and then also maybe they're taking care of family members and they need to be able to reach out and get to those people," Swanson said.
Should a student need to use their cellphone outside of these guidelines, Swanson said options will be available to them.
"They are more than welcomed to ask their teacher to go to the office and utilize a phone," she said. "They can also ask their classroom teacher to use their phone. All of our classrooms have phones for safety reasons."
District officials say while these new set of rules may be an adjustment, safety is still a top priority.
"So, in an emergency situation, they don't have to dial a phone number, they can hit the panic button that alerts the front office and then we will send immediate back up to that classroom to see what situation is going on," Swanson said.