Photos by and written by Jameca Patrick-Singleton
In a controversial move, the Flint Community School Board voted that students will not be allowed to have cell phones and hoodies on school property beginning in January 2024.
During the December 13, 2023 school board meeting, members of the body debated whether banning cell phones would pose a safety threat for youth as they travel to and from school, as well as the inconveniences not having the phones would cause. Ultimately the vote carried unanimously.
Michael Clack, president of the Flint Community School thinks that the ban was the best possible option.
He stated “I think it is important that we (the board) send a clear message that we stand with the staff (teachers, support staff & administrators), that we support you in your efforts to provide the best education possible to our scholars.
“Cell phones and other types of personal communication devices can be used as a tool to help, but unfortunately in many instances that we deal with in the district, they are more of a hindrance. Many small situations that could be handled in house are made more complicated because fights and other unfortunate situations are posted to social media real time. In these cases ‘cyber bullying’ becomes more prevalent.
“We have heard of situations where students call family members up to our campuses to cause all types of drama. In other cases, we’ve heard of students airdropping answers to tests to each other.
“We realize that parents provide their children with cell phones in order to keep in touch with as well as have the ability to track their location, however, a certain level of personal responsibility for the inappropriate use of cell phones must be taken by those who have misused our previous cell phone policy. To say it in regular words, the unfortunate actions of a few, have caused the entire district to suffer consequences.
“I also must add that I did NOT agree with everything in the policy change like: the ban of cell phones on the bus. Nor did I fully agree with the entire ban of hoodies, but there is a large number of students (mainly in the middle and high school) that refused to follow the previous ‘don’t put the hood on’ policy. There was also a number of students that wore ski masks. Many of the teachers felt intimidated and unsafe coming to work and unfortunately, we felt it necessary to make this ban. The board is looking into providing every student in the district with a fleece (without the hood) to supplement the changes. The district does currently supply coats for students that are in need.”
Some parents also agree with the ban.
Sharon Campbell said: “I have a 10th grade son at Southwestern. I’ve gone to the school and seen young men, teenage boys with masks and hoodies on. I was scared. It looked like they were in gangs or something. Maybe they weren’t, but that’s how it looked. I was concerned to leave my kid at school. Schools should be a safe place of learning. This is how we train and prepare our young people for the future. It’s up to us to teach them to behave better. I’m not even going to talk about these phones distract them when they should be learning. I’m happy with the decision of the board. It’s up to us to create a better learning environment for our babies.
