Student Use of Personal Mobile Devices

Internet-enabled devices can be tools for learning. To help students acquire skills that help them use these devices effectively, students are assigned a district-provided device to use in the context of their education. Students should use only these approved and supported devices throughout the school day for educational purposes.

Personal mobile devices include, but are not limited to:

• Mobile cellular phones
• Smartwatches
• Smart glasses or goggles
• Laptops or tablets (students will use district provided computers for learning)
• Portable gaming devices
• Digital cameras
• Music players
• GPS trackers with communication capabilities 

The school day is when students need to be able to focus, learn, interact with each other, build in-person community, and engage with teachers. Study data shows that having a cell phone, even turned off in their backpack, decreases engagement and attention and results in lower academic achievement. In 2024, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) published a brief for Washington’s schools on cell phone policies, advocating for school leaders to plan to update their policies by the start of the 2025–26 school year. This policy is a direct response to that directive. In fall of 2024, our superintendent commissioned a task force to develop our policy, which was approved by the school board in spring of 2025. You can read more about the task force's work by visiting the Mobile Devices In Schools Task Force page.

School security experts say phones can make children less safe in crisis situations for the following reasons:

• Student use of cell phones during an unfolding emergency can distract their attention from safety and emergency response directions being given by school staff.
• Cell phone use by students can hamper rumor control and, in doing so, disrupt and delay effective public safety personnel response.
• Cell phone use by students can impede public safety response by accelerating parental and community arrival at the scene of an emergency during times when officials may be attempting to evacuate students to another site.
• Victims and worried family members trying to get through can jam communications, interfering with first responders.

In the case of an emergency situation, Northshore School District will use ParentSquare to communicate information to families. 

Parents and/or guardians who need to contact their student during the school day and or change the pick-up time of their child may do so by calling the school's main office. Contacting your child via their cell phone during the school day distracts them from their learning and the needed in-person interaction with their teachers and peers. By having 24/7 access, we prevent growth opportunities that our children need educationally, socially, and developmentally. If students text their parents every time they have a question, they miss the opportunity to think for themselves and develop problem-solving skills.

Be sure to check your student's school website for more information on protocols for contacting them during the school day.

All use of health-monitoring technologies should be approved through a student's IEP or 504 plan. Please work with your student's case manager to ensure that the approved use of a personal device to monitor health conditions (blood glucose, heart rate, etc.) is clearly documented and shared with your student's teachers.

The family is responsible if the student’s personal device is lost, stolen, or damaged on school property or during school-sponsored activities. As with all personal items, bringing them to school is a decision made by the family and student, and the district and school are not responsible for any loss, destruction, or theft. Families are encouraged to keep all personal devices at home, rather than sending them to school with students.