(UPDATE -1) Ontario introducing plan to limit cellphone use, social media and vaping in schools

with files from The Canadian Press/Maan Alhmidi

Ontario's education minister says new policies limiting cellphone use in classrooms, restricting access to all social media networks and banning vaping on school properties are meant to curb distraction levels among the province's students.

Stephen Lecce announced the new measures at a morning news conference and touted them as necessary steps to improve safety in schools and help students focus in class. 

Kids in kindergarten to Grade 6 will be required to keep phones on silent and out of sight for the entire school day unless they get explicit permission from an educator, while those in grades seven and up will see cellphone use banned during class time.

The new policy will also block access to all social media platforms on school networks and devices, a move the government says is the first of its kind among Canadian provinces. 

Report cards will now also include comments on students' distraction levels in class. 

The Progressive Conservative government had asked school boards to come up with their own cellphone policies in 2019, but Lecce said the results were mixed. A provincewide policy will be stronger and clearer, he said. 

"Some boards developed strong policies, and many developed policies that led us to where we are today," he said, pointing to high rates of students distracted by their phones. 

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation remains skeptical about whether a blanket ban will improve matters, the group's president said Sunday.

"I'm not really sure how this is going to change anything going forward," said Karen Littlewood.

Teachers are hesitant to take away students' phones because they would be responsible if the devices are lost, damaged or stolen, she said.

"It leads to so many issues and so many problems," she said. 

It will fall to school staff to decide when the use of technology is appropriate, and Lecce said he will "have the backs" of the teachers, principals and superintendents who will be the ones enforcing the new government policy. 

The changes reflect some of the demands made by the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario in its most recent round of bargaining with the province.

The group suggested the changes as a way to address increasing violence and disruption in schools, the federation said in a statement issued Sunday.

But the union says it will reserve judgement on the new policies until it has seen the full range of changes in detail.

Concerns about social media and its effects on students are not confined to government officials. Four of Ontario's largest school boards announced plans last month to sue the parent companies of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

The schoolboards allege the social media platforms are disrupting student learning, contributing to a mental health crisis and leaving educators to manage the fallout. 

The Toronto District School Board, the Peel District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board filed four separate but similar cases in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice in late March.

The lawsuits claim the social media platforms are designed for compulsive use and have rewired the way children think, behave and learn.

In March, the chair of the Sicmoe County District School Board told Barrie 360 it was the board's intention to join the legal action, but at that time no action had been taken.

Lecce says vaping will be banned in all schools, adding students will be required to hand over any vapes or cigarettes they're caught carrying, and school staff will notify parents in those circumstances.

The government announced $30 million in the 2024 Budget to install vape detectors and other security upgrades in schools.

In addition, the government is investing $17.5 million in new wrap-around supports for student mental health and parent engagement. This will include:

• $15 million to provide supports for students at risk of addictive behaviours
• $1 million to partner with School Mental Health Ontario to develop webinars and resources targeted to parents and students across the province to learn how to talk about the adverse effects of vaping and excessive cellphone usage
• $1.5 million to Parent Involvement Committees and students to run local prevention campaigns to help deter vaping and cellphone distractions

banner image: The Canadian Press