SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — As students across Northeast Ohio settle into the second half of the 2024-25 academic year, school leaders face a looming deadline.
By July, all Ohio public school districts are required by state law to adopt official policies limiting cell phone use in K-12 classrooms. The South Euclid-Lyndhurst City School District is ahead of the curve, rolling out its first formal districtwide policy when school began last fall.
What is the policy?
“Our policy is ‘K-12, no cell phone,'” SEL Superintendent Dominick Kaple says.
This school year marks a significant shift in cell phone policy across the district’s six schools. Previously, individual school leaders determined how to handle mobile devices on their campuses, but now a uniform rule is in place: Students must power off and store their phones during the school day. If a student is caught with a phone, staff will confiscate the device, which can only be reclaimed by a parent or guardian…