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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive order to restrict the use of cell phones in public schools.
According to CNN, Gov Youngkin issued the executive order on Tuesday, July 9. The outlet reports that the legislation intends to “limit or ban cell phone use in public schools.” Additionally, the order reportedly requires the Virginia Department of Education to “establish guidelines for a cell phone-free education.”
The outlet reports that Gov. Youngkin believes the decision is an “essential action” to “promote a healthier and more focused educational environment.”
“Creating cell phone and social media-free educational environments in Virginia’s K-12 education system will benefit students, parents, and educators,” Youngkin reportedly explained. “Today’s Executive Order both establishes the clear goal to protect the health and safety of our students by limiting the amount of time they are exposed to addictive cell phones and social media and eliminates clear distractions in the classroom.”
According to the outlet, Virginia isn’t the only place where schools have vowed to place limits on cell phone use. CNN reports that last month, the New York City Public Schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District announced that “they would similarly move to limit cell phones in their schools.”
According to the outlet, a draft of Virginia’s new cell phone policy in public schools is reportedly expected to be submitted by August 15. Final adjustments should be made by September, and the policy should go into full effect by January 1, 2025.
WAVY adds that school districts within the state have already begun discussing the new policy. Furthermore, the outlet reports that Virginia Beach City Public Schools have already implemented a cell phone ban. However, it still poses challenges and requires equal support from school officials and parents.
“Our teachers work hard to address it,” Virginia Beach City Public Schools Chief School Officer Matthew Delaney told the outlet. “They work with our families to address it collectively. We believe the adults have to come together to support our teachers in creating the best learning environment for our kids.”
Donald Robertson, the superintendent of VBCPS, says their policy does not require cell phones to be confiscated from students. Instead, it expects “students to be off of them during instructional time.”
According to WSLS, schools in Roanoke, Virginia, which have also implemented a similar policy, are now determining whether they should up the ante and restrict cell phones from classrooms “entirely.” The outlet adds that Roanoke County Schools has sent a survey to parents for their input on the matter.
It appears that the issue of heavy cell phone use is not only a problem in classrooms. As The Shade Room previously reported, earlier this month, Busta Rhymes went off on a crowd at Essence Fest for being too distracted by their phones during his performance.
“Ayo, f**k those camera phones too, let’s get back to interacting as humans,” the rapper emphatically told the crowd. “Put those weird a** devices down! I ain’t from that era… F**k your phone!”
Watch the viral moment below.
