William S. Hart Union High School District officials are saying cell phone pilot programs are working, and now governing board members want to expedite the process to have a districtwide policy possibly as soon as the beginning of January.  Such a policy limiting or restricting student usage of cell phones is being mandated by the state after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3216 earlier this year. A policy must be implemented by July 2026.  “We are constantly hearing from counselors about depression and anxiety and all this that we know was somewhat brought on by (cell phones),” said governing board member Joe Messina. “I don’t think we wait ’til the 2026. I’d like to see us kind of hyperspeed it.” Interim Superintendent Michael Vierra said at Wednesday’s meeting that, based on an internal survey, staff and parents seem to be on the same page that there needs to be a more defined policy outlining when cell phones can and cannot be used.  However, students in that survey overwhelmingly were against a complete ban, but softened toward the idea of classrooms being phone-free zones.  Vierra added that it would probably be best to wait until the start of the new school year to implement the policy to allow for everyone to know about it and become familiarized with it.  Maya Yiadom, a Valencia High senior and the student board member, said students likely wouldn’t take well to a complete ban due to having other responsibilities and needing to communicate with coaches or parents. She also brought up teachers having assignments being submitted online, which sometimes can mean having to take a picture of an assignment and uploading that before or during class.  One idea Yiadom had is to have classrooms be phone-free zones, but also to incorporate healthy technology practices into a class so that students learn how to create a balance.  “I think that it’s important that we teach students to learn to live with technology, because as we get older, it’s only going to get more prevalent in our lives,” she said. “So, teaching a balance, I think, is really important.”  While Vierra said there isn’t really a standard policy that school districts have been using — the new law does not specify how districts should limit cell phone use, only that a policy has to exist — he cited the policy that is currently in place at all of the junior highs in the district, as well as the pilot program that started this year at Canyon High.  David Miles, an assistant principal at Canyon, spoke about that pilot program, saying everyone involved knew what to expect going in and, so far, there haven’t been too many issues.  “A student made a comment the other day in a discussion with me about how students just feel like it’s less allowed,” Miles said, adding that as more time goes on, students will be more likely to see the policy as just the way things are rather than something new to get used to.  After implementing the pilot program at the start of the fall semester, Miles said 11% of students have received a violation and 4% have received two or more.  The key, he said, is having universal enforcement.  “It continues to be true that 100% classroom implementation with fidelity is still a goal rather than a reality,” Miles said, “and we understand that teachers do not want to be cell-phone police in their classrooms, and that it is tiresome to spend instructional time on cell phone procedure.”  The board will continue to discuss the policy at future meetings before reviewing a draft and then ultimately adopting it.  The post Hart school board wants cell phone policy sooner than later  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.