Since August, a lot has happened with the Shoreline School Board. First of all, several district policies have been updated.

Discipline Policies

Notably, changes were made to discipline policies to give teachers more discretion around disciplining students and handling unruly behavior in the classroom, and give less discretion to school administrators (meaning principals, deans, etc.). For example, teachers now have ultimate discretion over what is considered an “emergency situation” in the classroom. In addition, they have been given more authority on determining what form of discipline (removal from the classroom, suspension, etc.) will be issued to a given student.

Cell Phone Policy

In September, the Board unanimously passed a Tentative Agreement between the district and the Shoreline Education Association (teachers’ union). This agreement contained protocols regarding a multitude of things, notably a temporary agreement on cell phones/personal electronics.

The document states, “The Shoreline School District will implement an ‘off and away for the day’ cell phone expectation at each of its secondary schools. The expectation [will be] as follows: Phones, earbuds, and similar personal electronics will be off and away from the first to the last bell of the day, including when students are in classrooms, common areas, the library, hallways, and bathrooms.”

However, on Oct. 21, new goals for the Board were adopted, and one of these goals is to reach adoption of a concrete, district-wide policy (the existing agreement mentioned above is non-binding and tentative) regarding the use of cell phones in our schools.

The School Board will host a community forum at Shorewood to listen to ideas, concerns, and opinions on what this policy should look like. Dec. 1, 7-8:30 p.m.

Junior Iris Peters is a student representative on the Shoreline School Board and reports on the Board for The Tempest.