In his end-of-the-year message to his membership of school superintendents, 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; at one point suggesting 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.”
Buie’s interpretation of the cellphone ban, along with some portion of Governor Kelly’s view, is refuted by the bill’s author, Senator Chase Blasi, and others.
The Sentinel obtained a transcript of Buie’s video presentation, which included his interpretation of the Senate Substitute for House Bill 2299 and his advice on implementation of the cellphone ban:
“The governor’s letter did provide a little relief and a little confusion at the same time. Here’s the bottom line: I have called back the governor’s office. I tried to get them to remove the locker piece there on page two, where it talks about ‘(not) in a backpack, but in a locker.’ 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. Please don’t worry, try to store computers all day long and spend the time on the staff to store those and hand those out at the end of the day. Build a policy, get your kids to work at the policy the best they can. Keep the phones turned off, keep the phones put away. Make sure that’s in your policies, and if the kids violate the policies, make sure there’s appropriate consequences, and that’s the best way I can put it. Don’t spend a lot of extra money out there.”
Buie then appears to offer superintendents opposed to the ban some cover in case questions arise from patrons about full compliance with the cellphone ban:
“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. But please, folks, don’t go spending the money that you could be spending on a teacher. Don’t go spending money on bags that you can spend on professional development or anything else that’s going to help kids. Make sure we keep those resources on our kids, supporting our kids. And if you need to blame somebody, feel free to blame me. I got a couple of senators I’ve got letters from as well, saying not to spend the money, that backpacks are okay, so I think there’s enough support out there that the little bit of bad press that may happen, we can take care of, and we can manage. So, please don’t spend a lot of money on those bags or boxes, or whatever you’re going to do. Smaller districts, (it) may work out perfect for you, but larger buildings, you just put it in the backpack, turn it off, and let’s move on, and let’s educate our kids.”
“The governor’s letter” Buie refers to was a letter to the Kansas State Board of Education from Governor Kelly’s Chief of Staff, Will Lawrence. It was intended to provide clarification on key points of the new cellphone ban in schools, but, as Buie alluded to, it resulted in some confusion, particularly about the allowable locations and storage of the electronic devices once they are brought to school.
On the cellphone storage issue, the governor’s Letter read in part:
On challenges relating to storage of these devices, Governor Kelly believes that schools should develop methods that best suit their student populations and can do so while complying with provisions of this bill. The bill requires devices to be powered off and securely stored away and off a student’s person during the school day. Here are examples of how we believe this can be achieved through school district policies:
- Storing a student’s phone in pencil bags, or other containers, and left in that student’s primary classroom, home room, first classroom of the day;
- Storage in a student’s vehicle or being left at home;
- Storage in a student’s locker;
- Storage in a cubby, cabinet, or designated phone area in a classroom or secure area within the school building.
This is not an exhaustive list but hopefully outlines the types of concepts that can achieve implementation with minimal costs. Storage in backpacks that are not left in a student’s locker, first classroom, primary classroom or homeroom is not acceptable and does not meet the language of the bill.
Sen. Blasi, others reject cellphone options posed by Governor Kelly and USSA
Senate Majority Leader Chase Blasi, a supporter of the bill, told Dr. Tracy Frederick, Executive Director of the Kansas School Board Resource Center (KSBRC), there’s a simple solution to the cellphone storage issue:
“We are in agreement (with Governor Kelly) that backpacks are unlawful. Lockers are acceptable with proper guardrails.
“First and foremost, most of my schools are telling their students to just leave them at home. If you drive to school (a majority of students do in my districts) then they must be left in the vehicle. Bus riders or walkers will be given an alternative option. One of my high schools purchased lockers for those students, which were very affordable.
“Overall, if a student is leaving it in a locker they may have access to, they’ll need to understand the rules and consequences of accessing it. It should be turned off during the school day. This should be a last resort. Considering most students don’t use lockers, this shouldn’t be an issue. Lockers are loud, so it’ll be known if someone is accessing them. I know one school that is planning to assign one hallway of lockers to bus riders/walkers just for their phones. Easier to police.”
Sen. Blasi and attorney Fritz Edmunds, who runs the Legal Hotline for Kansas school board members via School Boards for Academic Excellence, also addressed these issues in a webinar sponsored by KSBRC.
KSBRC, like The Sentinel, is a subsidiary of Kansas Policy Institute (KPI).
Dr. Frederick’s reaction to Governor Kelly’s interpretation of the cellphone ban is more pointed:
“The language in HB 2299 regarding the acceptable limits and implementation expectations outlined in Senate Substitute for Substitute for House Bill No. 2299 — specifically the requirement that districts prohibit students from using or accessing personal electronic devices” and ensure such devices are “securely stored away from the student’s person in an inaccessible location during the school day” — is very clear.
“Governor Kelly was an outspoken supporter of this bill, claiming it was a “common sense approach to address Kansas student academic performance and mental health. However, her recent letter offering her interpretation of acceptable policy options – advocating for pencil bags, cubbies, and personal student accessible lockers- lacks the common sense she said is needed to help students’ academic focus and support better mental health.
“School board members and district leaders need to remember that Governor Kelly has provided her list of examples, but she does not interpret the law for them. The statute language is clear, the message and intent are clear, even though she failed to provide the common sense leadership she promised.”
Kansas Policy Institute CEO Dave Trabert further commented on the confusing direction provided by USSA:
“The cellphone law exists to remove classroom distractions so that kids can learn. Telling superintendents not to worry about consequences for failing to comply is just another example of state education associations disregarding laws designed to improve student outcomes because compliance is inconvenient for the adults in charge. Most school districts won’t allow school board members to conduct annual needs assessments in schools to identify learning barriers as legally required. And, as noted by state audits, they also decline to spend $550 million in at-risk funding on above-and-beyond services for students at academic risk of failing.
“They ignore laws because they know that the State School Board won’t hold them accountable. They also know that Democrats and a fair number of Republicans in the Legislature won’t revoke accreditation from districts that violate the law because they don’t want to upset school administrators. You’d think that every adult in education administration and the Legislature would put students’ interests first, but that too often is not the case.”
The Sentinel reached out to Kansas State Board of Education Chair Cathy Hopkins for comment on the conflicting views of the cellphone ban and also asked Buie for the names of the state senators he referred to regarding the cellphone issue, but we received no responses from either.
