CMCSS Board of Education considers review of cell phone restrictions

The CMCSS Board of Education’s last formal session was held on Tuesday, May 19. SUBMITTED The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System’s cell phone policy has been questioned by one school board member and a Montgomery County Commissioner. Prior to accepting the 2026-2027 Student Code of Conduct updates at the Tuesday, May 19 meeting, CMCSS school board member Aron Maberry inquired about students being allowed to use the phones during the academic day. Later in the meeting, Montgomery County Commissioner Joshua Beal requested the board take a deeper look at reviewing the staff’s cell phone policy as well. Commissioner Beal’s remarks followed a suggestion for the Board of Education to provide not just the agenda, but full-board packets available to the public. “The public deserves to see what elected officials are seeing before decisions are made,” Beal said on his social media page. “Transparency should not be treated like an inconvenience. It should be the standard.” Cell phone policy in place At the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic school year, the CMCSS Board of Education implemented a “bell-to-bell” ban of cell phones and all other personal electronic devices, in line with state law. When school starts, the phones in Clarksville are not confiscated or put in a holding area, but students are required to turn them off. This allows students to have their phones on them in case of an emergency. Unless the principal allows it, students are not even permitted to use the phones during a recess or at lunch. During Tuesday’s meeting, just prior to approving the second and final reading of updates for the 2026-2027 Student Code of Conduct, Maberry said principals and administrators have been providing more leeway with cell phone use than what the board had intended when the new policy was implemented. “I believe we were pretty clear as a board, that we wanted a blackout between start and finish [of a school day], and we gave principals a discretion that if there was a special assignment, they could have their cell phones out,” Maberry said. “That is not what has been happening.” Maberry said he feels the administrators have gone far beyond what the Board had intended with permitting cell phone use during the school day. Maberry said in some schools, students have been seen using their cell phones in the hallways. He made a motion to eliminate, or to tighten, the principals’ discretion that would allow cell phone usage during the instructional day. School Board member Kacie Bryant made a second to Maberry’s motion, for the purpose of discussion. In reading a portion of the policy aloud, Board Chairman Chris Lanier said the building principal may approve the use of cell phones or personal electronic devices for instructional purposes on a case-by-case basis, and the building principal may designate a specific time, such as lunch, when students may use phones or other specific, personal electronic devices. Maberry reached out to Anthony Johnson, CMCSS Chief Communications Officer, for direction. Johnson suggested the CMCSS staff study some of Maberry’s specific concerns and provide guidance to continue with the current policy in place. “I would hate to take that discretion from administrators if it is not being abused,” Johnson said. Maberry then made a request directly to CMCSS Schools Director Jean Luna-Vedder to provide the instruction of cell phone restrictions and liberties to the administrators. “We can have that conversation, especially if we could have specifics with schools, but we can definitely have that conversation,” Dr. Luna-Vedder said. With that agreement, Maberry withdrew his motion. The Board unanimously approved updates for the 2026-2027 Student Code of Conduct.