Effective this fall, public schools in Ontario will be limiting the use of cellphones and cracking down on the use of vape products.
Ontario’s education minister, Stephen Lecce, says any student with a device will be required to silence or turn off their phone, which must be kept out of sight.
Lecce says students will be permitted to use their device during recess and lunch breaks, but it won’t be a free-for-all.
All publicly funded school boards will be required to restrict access to social media sites on any school networks or school-owned devices.
The new legislation brought down by the province also includes a no tolerance ban on the use of vape products on school property.
“Under this new policy, students found possessing vapes, cannabis, tobacco and nicotine will be asked to surrender them and schools will now be required to immediately notify their parents.”
Ontario is putting $30 million aside to install vape detectors in schools, and will be spending $17.5 million to improve mental health and addictions services for children and teens.