Indiana students will soon adjust to new cell phones, absenteeism rules as school year approaches

DEARBORN COUNTY, Ind. (WXIX) - Summer break is coming to an end and thousands of students in the Tri-State are about to head back to school. With a new school year coming up in Indiana comes two new laws that will regulate cell phones in the classroom and absenteeism.

Dearborn and Ohio County students will return to school during the week of Aug. 5. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed two bills back in March that are now in effect.

Under Indiana’s new law, cell phones, tablets, laptops, and gaming devices utilized for personal use are prohibited in the classroom.

”The cell phone should be off and put away, or a lot of our teachers do have certain areas where they can turn them in turned off and they can be there during the class period,” Lawrenceburg Community Schools Superintendent Karl Galey told FOX19 NOW.

There are exceptions where devices can be used, such as for educational purposes with a teacher’s permission or to manage a student’s health.

Students with disabilities can use devices and cell phone use is permitted for emergencies only.

”Will the teachers have the power to confiscate the phones? If it is being used; if it goes off, then they may take it and turn it into the administrators,” Galey said. “They will return it at the end of the day, but then it starts, then increasing consequences after that.”

The superintendent says detention or Friday school would be the most severe punishment for repeat offenders.

The Indiana legislature also passed a new truancy law that applies to students in K-6th grades, but Dearborn and Ohio counties have collaborated with juvenile courts, the prosecutor’s office, probation officers, and the department of child services to take a step forward and include high schoolers too.

• Elementary Level: Six excused absences are permitted.
• Grades 6- 12: Four excused absences are permitted.

”As you start accumulating those unexcused absences, it will start leading to letters from the school, letters from the probation department, visits from the probation or the department of child services and then eventually, potentially, if it gets so severe, it would lead to a visit with the circuit court judge,” Galey explained.

The superintendent says he and his staff are excited about starting a new school year, but there will be some changes.

He wants all parents in school districts across Dearborn and Ohio counties to refer to their individual district’s handbook which lays out the new rules.

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