The St. Paul Public Schools board will vote Tuesday on a cell phone policy it spent the fall drafting.

Districts across the state are adopting district-wide policies on cellphone use since the Legislature mandated them last April. The deadline for districts to set school board-approved policies is March 15.

SPPS’s policy draft to be presented to the board states that the use of personal electronic devices will not be permitted during school hours and must either remain at home, in lockers or turned off and put away. That includes cell phones, tablets, laptops, smart watches, gaming systems and earbuds.

In addition to some exceptions — such as students with medical conditions requiring monitoring, students with individual education plans, students who are parents or those working as first responders — schools can develop their own documented plans with school stakeholders for grades 9 and above that must be reviewed annually.

Schools could then decide for those grade levels to allow cell phone use before and after school, between class periods or during lunch, but must have an objective of reducing their use. Electronic devices still would not be permitted during class periods, in bathrooms or in locker rooms.

Parents and guardians also are asked to limit calling or texting their children and students are asked to review their school’s policies.

Cell phone policies at district level

As part of the April legislation, a best practices guide called “The Cell Phone Toolkit” was developed by the Minnesota Elementary School Principals Association and the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals and released in July.

Those guidelines recommend no cellphone use during the academic day for elementary and middle schoolers and no use — except perhaps during passing time and lunch — for high schoolers.

Much of the change is putting cell phone policies at the district level.

“One of the things that we started with in planning was, where do we currently stand?” said Jodi Danielson, SPPS director of schools and learning and facilitator of the district’s cell phone policy workgroup. “What’s currently happening in our schools? And we found that many of our schools are already doing something very similar to what is in this language already. There may be some slight modifications, but I think that for the most part, the next step for schools is going to be to clearly communicate any changes that their students will be experiencing,”

The majority of SPPS schools already do not allow the use of cell phones during the entire school day, according to the district’s summary of its policy planning report.

While no SPPS elementary schools allow cell phone use during the school day and most middle schools don’t allow their use either, that changes at the high school level. For the majority of high schools, some use of cell phones, such as during lunch, is permitted.

Consequences

“School teams should take a positive, preventative, educational and restorative approach to personal electronic device use, creating clear and consistent expectations for use,” the draft policy states.

According to the policy, staff will refer to the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook when responding to policy violations. This can include students losing the privilege to bring devices such as cell phones to school.

Consequences cannot exclude students from learning, should include teaching expected behavior and “repairing harm caused and using interventions that are the least severe disciplinary response that is appropriate,” as well be consistently applied, according to the draft.

Policy planning

In the months leading up to the March 15 deadline, the SPPS workgroup Danielson facilitates led student and staff focus groups, sent out surveys to staff, families and 6th to 12th grade students, held a student roundtable with state senators and met with each of the district’s eight Parent Advisory Councils. That outreach informed what the draft looks like, Danielson said.

In total, more than 10,500 people responded to the surveys, including close to 4,000 students, though response rates for students, staff and families each hovered around 20%.

The first reading of the draft policy was made to the board Dec. 19, with the second reading at its Jan. 21 meeting. It will be discussed again Tuesday in accordance with district policy before it can be approved with a majority vote.

“I do think, once the policy is adopted, then the next steps will be to plan for implementation throughout the spring and summer. And so, we’ll then move to, throughout this spring, ‘What do schools need in order to implement the policy effectively in September?’ And I think those require ongoing conversations and kind of a planning team to prepare for that work,” Danielson said.

If approved by the board, implementation of the new district-wide policy begins Sept. 2.

See the full policy draft available on the SPPS website by going to spps.org/about/board-of-education/2025-meeting-materials. The draft can be found by going to the Board of Education section and selecting the Feb. 18 BoardBook.

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