By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice recommended a complete ban on cellphones at the town’s public schools a year ago.

His stance was bolstered by a February tour of Wilton High School to assess a phone ban already enforced there.

Now, he is bringing his proposal to the people: namely, staff, parents and students.

Feedback timeline

In an email to the community Friday afternoon, Scarice outlined a “feedback mechanism” that will be employed to assess opinions over the next six weeks.

Smartphones are already banned at Westport’s elementary schools and restricted to lockers during the class day at middle schools, according to Board of Education policy. 

The question now is whether to strip cellphones and other wearable technology from students’ use at Staples High School.

There will be an anonymous online survey open only to Staples parents, students and faculty to measure levels of support, concerns and the perceived impact of prohibiting access to personal smartphones and wearable technology during the school day. 

The survey will be distributed April 7 and participant have until April 25 to fill it out.

Community forum in May

Beyond that, there will be a moderated community conversation meeting with the Board of Education at a date to be determined. 

The session will be moderated by Velma Heller, a former Westport educator and 20-year member of the Representative Town Meeting. The session is set for May 6, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., but the location has not been determined.

Faculty members have already expressed strong support for minimizing distractions, concerns about enforcement and the impact on using technology for instructional purposes, Scarice noted in his Friday message.

To incorporate student perspectives, Staples Principal Stafford Thomas will work with his team to facilitate structured discussions with student government representatives, student clubs and athletics. Student engagement meetings will be completed by May 9.

Early in the school district’s discussion of a potential cellphone ban, it was noted that coaches sometimes contact student athletes by email. Scarice put a stop to that practice, calling it inappropriate.

Assessing consequences

Scarice said in his memo that underlying questions will be: “What are the impacts of student cellphone use and cellphone restriction policies on student outcomes?”

A culminating report summarizing all the above will be compiled for the school board by the end of May. Board members can publicly discuss the matter at their June 5 meeting, or perhaps as early as the May 15 meeting, depending on the progress of the feedback mechanisms.

Scarice promises to provide the board with a final report and policy recommendation after all the feedback has been collected and reviewed.

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.