Cell Phone Policy
iPad, Personal Device and Wifi Use Expectations
Updated 2024-25 Cell Phone Policy Document
All Dakota Hills students will be issued school district iPads. These will be used in classrooms as the only classroom technology tool for access to Schoology, Google resources, district approved apps for learning, checking grades, submission of electronic assignments, etc.
We know that student possession, access, and use of their own smartphones, ear buds, and music devices have been a distraction for students and a significant barrier for the classroom learning environment. The student tendency to use smartphones for social media and gaming interferes and distracts from the primary teaching and learning purpose in the classroom. Much of this is related to the age of our middle school students and the attraction of technology.
Since the classroom is for teaching and learning, and all students will have this purpose served through the iPads, All Dakota Hills classrooms will be “no phone zones.”
Dakota Hills does not allow students to have their own smartphones or ear buds with them during the school day… this includes lunch time.
Parent and School Options
Parents and students can send e-mails to students via their iPads at their @apps Gmail address. Know your child’s FLEX (1:44 – 2:14 PM) time session, as this is a good time for e-mails.
Student Personal Phone Use Limitations
Students are not to possess phones from 8:20 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. This means no phones at lunch. Students will be able to use their iPads at lunch. This is a good time to use Gmail.
When Students Can Use Cell Phones
Before school or after school. DHMS has limited ability to receive and relay messages to students during the day. Use Gmail via the iPad. The school also has three free-use public phones for student use.
All students will be expected to leave phones and ear buds in their lockers or at home. We are instituting this expectation to protect and support the purpose of classroom learning. Any students who have phones or ear buds from 8:20 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. will have the phone confiscated by a staff person. The phone will be brought to the office where it will be kept in a secure location with two options:
- The student retrieves the phone on her/his own one week after the day the phone is confiscated, without a parent, or
- On any school day, a parent can come to DHMS before 4 p.m. to retrieve the phone for her/his student.
On a second offense, only a parent/guardian will be able to retrieve the phone from the office (not a student)
Further, students will bear the responsibility for secure storage of smartphones in their lockers. Student devices are brought to DHMS at the risk of the student/parent. Dakota Hills assumes no responsibility for theft, loss, or damage of an electronic device brought to school and will not assume responsibility for investigating loss or theft of such items.
We ask parents to limit their need to have contact with students.
For parents, we need your support on this as we know that, at times, contact with your child during the day has been a cause for distraction in the classroom. We need parents to refrain from turning the convenience of phone/text communication into a need.
These expectations are intended to protect the educational purpose of the classroom, the security of the school’s network infrastructure, and the privacy of individual persons (students, staff, families).
Personal Device Policies Contact
Name of Official: DHMS Administration
Telephone: 651-683-6800