VALDOSTA — Cell phones on campus may soon become a thing of the past.
At Monday’s Valdosta Board of Education regular meeting, the board approved a measure allowing Superintendent Dr. Bill Cason to rewrite the policy concerning cell phones and electronic instruments on school campuses, Jennifer Steedley, director of public relations for the Valdosta City School System said Tuesday.
The board discussed banning cell phones entirely from campus and various disciplinary procedures that could be implemented once the policy is rewritten and approved by the board, she said.
One measure discussed would require a parent or guardian to come to school the first time a student is caught with a cell phone and pick up the phone. If the offense happened again, the phone would be kept by the school until the end of the year, Steedley said.
In other news:
• Policies concerning public participation and meeting locations were approved by the board. The new public participation policy will not require a person wanting to speak to the board to sign up five days before the meeting is held. They will now be able to sign up at the meeting to speak.
• To give more room to those wanting to attend meetings, board meeting work sessions will now rotate between schools from September to May. The work sessions conducted in June, July and August will be held at the central office, Steedley said. The rotation schedule will be determined at the regular board meeting each July and the rotation will not start until the meetings are mapped out in July.
• Students participating in the SMILE program will be allowed to wear blue cords at the Valdosta High School graduation in May. The cords represent their participation in the program and their dedication to community service.
• Annalise Wojcik, a W.G. Nunn Elementary School fifth grader, was honored as the system-wide spelling bee winner and for placing second in the district competition. She will move on to the state competition that will be held on Friday.
• Valdosta High School state wrestling champion Jovan Scott was honored during the meeting for placing first in the 140-pound Class AAAAA classification.
• Two members of the Valdosta Middle School Math Counts team, Zachary Goddard and Ty Haynes, will participate in the upcoming state competition.
The Valdosta Board of Education will meet for a work session on March 22 at 7 p.m. at the Central Office.
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