The province’s teachers union is encouraging government to come up with a cell phone policy that’s enforceable.
NLTA President Trent Langdon says cell phones are an added distraction to learning in the classroom, and exposes students to even greater harm.
“It’s a major disruption in some cases, especially for those with chronic use and addiction issues. We also know too, that through cell phones, it does give a greater opportunity for drugs and violent incidents to increase in schools because there’s connections being made.”
The province is currently contemplating a broad cell phone policy for schools, but Langdon says, it must be enforceable.
“We know teachers are going to be the ones responsible for enforcing the policy. We need to know that that policy is going to be respected by parents, it’s going to be respected by the school district and government and that decisions made on the ground that are in line with the policy are going to be respected and teachers are going to be supported in what they’re doing in their schools.”