Principal: High school students adjusting well to new cellphone rules

“It feels like we have gone old school.”

That was the report Monday night from high school principal Jill Lybert to members of the Medford Area Public School Board about the start of the new school year with a new no cellphone policy.

“We are off to a fantastic start,” she said of the start of the school year, noting that so far there has been a high level of compliance with the cellphone free policy.

Students bringing cellular phone devices to school must keep them in Yonder bags which are locked through the school day. Lybert said they were told to expect pushback on this, but said that parents have been supportive and that students have accepted it as their reality.

“It has been an absolutely positive start to the year,” she said.

This is not to say that there haven’t been those who try to circumvent the rules. She said last week they began doing random Yonder bag checks and the initial checks averaged about three per classroom for devices that weren’t in the bags. She said so far they have had 20 students with first offense of the cellphone policy and three students who have gotten their second offense.

Lybert noted that even if the students are sneaking and not having them in the Yonder bags, there are keeping them hidden and out of site. “They are never out,” Lybert said.

While she noted the lunch room is louder than in the past, she said it is a “good loud” with students socializing and talking rather than having their eyes on their phones.

Lybert’s comments came as principals from each of the district’s buildings reported on the start of the school year. Overall, there were few issues reported across the buildings with only the middle school having support staff positions that need to be filled.

RVA Charter

The Rural Virtual Academy will continue until at least 2030.

School board members approved renewing the five-year charter agreement for the popular virtual K-12 school.

According to RVA administrator Charlie Heckel, state law required the charters to be renewed every five years. The district had received a $10,000 study grant in 2004 to form the RVA with it opening for students in 2005. While former curriculum director John Rulien had gotten the RVA started, he retired shortly after and left it to his successor Laura Lundy (now district administrator) to be the first administrator of the fledgling school. Heckel became involved with the school during the 2005-2006 school year when his role as the dean of students at the middle school was expanded to be a vice principal with the RVA responsibilities attached. “It was an opportunity that was given to me in my office,” he said.

In that first year, the RVA started with 11 students and ended the year with 17 students. Currently enrollment in the RVA is capped at 2,300 students and there is a waiting list of applicants to get in.

Heckel explained that under the law they must be a non-sectarian, free public school that is entirely parent-choice and is innovative.

“We are charged with doing things differently,” he said. In doing that he said they enjoy autonomy compared to other district schools, but have a great deal of accountability when it comes to meeting demands for high quality education.

“The kids who are here, come here by choice. They could just as easily choose not to come,” said board president Dave Fleegel praising the RVA.

According to Heckel, the state had a max of 65 charter school programs and it is currently down to 59. He said while there are more opportunities for charter schools to start, he noted that with 20-25 years of experience, there was a large risk for any new ones attempting to start.

“We don’t see a lot of districts getting in it,” he said.

“After 20 years the chaff and the wheat are getting separated,” he said of programs that are successful and those which are not.

Board members unanimously approved renewing the 5-year charter agreement for the RVA.

Title IX policy

Medford school board members approved the district’s new mandated title IX policies with little of the controversy that has impacted other schools in the state.

This led member Don Everhard to question what was different about Medford’s policy that avoided controversies and he questioned if someone could attempt to use the policy claiming sexual harassment regarding locker rooms and bathrooms.

Lundy said this would be under the creating a hostile environment area of the policy. She explained that according to Title IX you can’t harass people on the basis of sex. However, she noted that there is a lot that can be done by the district prior to any issue coming to the school board level. She said they would handle issues on a on a case by case basis and create a general plan with the parents and students to decide how it would look. She compared it to the way individualized education plans are prepared for students with special needs.

Everhard noted that he is opposed to harassment of any sort and said he was not opposed to approving the policy, but wanted to raise the question that he has heard from people in the community. He said he wanted to make sure the board was not relinquishing its role in regards to being conscious of the community with those situations.

Board members Corey Dassow and Aemus Balsis, who serve on the policy committee, explained that the wording was reviewed and recommended by the district’s legal counsel. Dassow noted that there is enough vagueness in areas to allow it to be open to interpretation and wiggle room.

In the end board members voted to approve the policies as presented.