Brainerd School Board Decides Not to Ban Cell Phone Use at High School

The Brainerd School Board met Tuesday night and decided whether or not to implement a new cell phone policy that would ban phone usage during the school day at Brainerd High School.

A survey conducted in October at BHS showed over 98% of students opposed the new policy. The current cell phone policy states that cell phones are permitted outside of the classroom.

Board members finally came to a decision to keep the existing policy in place as long as students continue to abide by it.

“The reality is there’s no definitive data or best practices that we can draw from,” said Brainerd School Board Chair Kevin Boyles during the meeting. “I don’t feel like there’s any other direction we can go until we either have a problem that we have to resolve, or some glaringly obvious data comes out from some of these other districts that it’s having this miraculous effect of some sort and we have to revisit it or the board does.”

Interim Superintendent Peter Grant stated during the meeting that the students’ actions are showing good faith to the high school and are adhering to policies.