Abbotsford students have been restricted from using personal digital devices in school for one entire school year and feedback from the secondary level indicates it was a successful adjustment to a new reality for all involved.
The Abbotsford board of education originally voted 6-1 in favour at their Feb. 13, 2024 meeting of limiting the use of cellphones in schools. That vote was in response to Premier David Eby announcing that measures would be taking place in B.C. schools.
Trustee Jared White voted against the motion, but did not state a reason during discussion.
Later that spring it was decided through consultation with various stakeholders and in alignment with direction from the Ministry of Education and Child Care that Abbotsford would implement the restriction starting in September 2024.
An update was provided at a board meeting on Feb. 11, 2025, and feedback ranked the new restrictions' roll-out an eight out of 10 for effectiveness.
More feedback was provided and a look back at the entire year under the restrictions was discussed at the board's meeting on Tuesday (June 17).
"Generally speaking our schools have found the admin procedures and policy supportive of existing practices that were in place and supporting more consistent approaches resulting in less disruption in our secondary schools related to personal digital devices," stated the district's acting secretary-treasurer, CFO and deputy superintendent Nathan Ngieng. "We continue to work at it, it's not solved by any means, but it was a good first step in generally seen as being supportive by both school staff and students at their schools."
Ngieng said the district is happy with the progress that has been made with the policy and that they have been able to support teachers.
Secondary schools were asked to leave feedback on the policy, with many echoing what Ngieng stated.
"Our feedback is that the secondary teachers appreciate the autonomy of being able to have students use devices in their classroom if they allow it but also appreciate the ability to say, no to having devices out or available," shared Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts. "We are happy with everything right now and no big issues that are plaguing our school around this."
Rick Hansen Secondary School said that it has been a little more challenging to enforce it as the year draws to its end.
"Overall, we noticed that at the start of the year, very few devices were seen, and students were generally compliant," they said. "As the year wanes, we have seen a significant uptake in the use of the devices around the school throughout the day and few classroom rules/structures around this. Saying that, there is certainly much less device use compared to last year.
"Moving into next year, we will ask that all teachers make use of the cellphone hotels to ensure we have consistency class to class. It is our hope that this will eliminate (or greatly reduce) the number of students using devices during bathrooms breaks or in class. We will continue to share this messaging to our community."
Robert Bateman Secondary School stated that students using earbuds to continue using devices has popped up as an issue.
"Staff love the policy, and we have excellent buy-in," they said. "We rarely need to confiscate phones. Phones are rarely out in classes, and most teachers have a "phone hotel" or other clear procedure for storing phones away. Our struggle is with earbuds: kids who think they need music to focus on are very sneaky about having those in almost all day."
W.J. Mouat Secondary added that it is on staff to uphold the policy.
"The policy is largely successful and continues to support a focused learning environment," they said. "Students are expected to either place their phones in designated classroom wall pouches or keep them stored away in their bags. Phones are not to be taken out of classrooms during instructional time, including when students leave to use the washroom. The primary area of concern lies in inconsistent staff enforcement. While many teachers consistently and effectively uphold the policy, others are less consistent."
Restrictions will continue next year and updates will continue to be provided. To read more on the feedback, visit sd34public.ic-board.com/Attachments/11a0a3b7-c9a6-4727-b56d-2a35b623b7a5.pdf.
