Recent guidance from Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach says storing cellphones in backpacks and lockers doesn’t meet state law requirements.
Kansas State Senator Kenny Titus asked Kobach’s office for an opinion clarifying what the cellphone ban requires.
“You ask whether the storage of personal electronic devices in students’ backpacks and lockers would satisfy HB 2299,” the opinion reads. “Assuming students carry their backpacks at some point during the school day, storage in backpacks is not ‘away from the student’s person.’ In addition, students’ backpacks are generally accessible to students during the school day, so personal electronic devices would not be stored in an ‘inaccessible location.’ Storage of personal electronic devices in students’ backpacks therefore would not meet the minimum requirements of HB 2299 unless the backpacks themselves were stored away from the students’ persons in an inaccessible location during the entire school day. “
Neither, according to the opinion, are lockers.
“Lockers that students are allowed to open during the school day also do not satisfy HB 2299’s minimum storage requirements,” the letter reads. “HB 2299 defines ‘[s]chool day’ to mean ‘the time from the start of school until dismissal at the end of the day on the school premises, including, but not limited to, the time in any classroom, structured or unstructured learning setting, recess, lunch or passing period.’ Thus, if students are allowed to retrieve items from their lockers during the school day, including during passing periods, personal electronic devices stored in those lockers would be accessible to students, not stored in an ‘inaccessible location.’ Storage in student lockers would satisfy HB 2299 only if the students are not allowed to open their lockers during the school day.”
United School Administrators flaunts ban on cellphones
As The Sentinel reported earlier this year, G.A. Buie, Executive Director of the United School Administrators of Kansas, appeared to dismiss the requirements of the new cellphone ban signed into law earlier this year by Governor Laura Kelly. He suggested to his group “that little bit of bad press that may happen” (from not following the letter of the new law) “we can take care of, and we can manage.”
The legislation, Senate Substitute for House Bill 2299, the so-called “Bell-to-Bell Cell Phone Ban, was passed by the Kansas Legislature on March 13th, and Governor Laura Kelly signed it into law on March 19th.
The bill requires Kansas public schools and accredited private schools to prohibit the use of personal electronic devices during the school day on school premises. These devices include, but are not limited to, cell phones, tablets, computers, watches, wireless headphones or earbuds, text messaging devices, and personal digital assistants. Students’ personal devices must be turned off and securely stored during the school day.
Buie told superintendents not to worry about spending money on storage for cellphones.
“The bottom line is the governor’s office doesn’t want you to spend any extra money on this new law than you have to. Don’t worry about buying bags for every student,” Buie said in a letter. “Don’t spend a lot of extra money out there.”
Buie then gave districts cover for failure to obey the law, suggesting leaving phones in backpacks or cubbies..
“There are no consequences for this bill if you don’t follow the letter of the law. The worst thing that can happen is we don’t follow this … we’re not making an attempt to follow the law. That’s when we can get in trouble, but if we demonstrate from our school districts across the state great leadership, great stewardship. We can handle this. We can put these in our backpacks, we can put them in elementary cubbies, and we can handle this the way it should be handled. I think we can get some of the wording changed in the next session and get it taken care of the way it should be.”
