New Cell Phone Policy at High School Nears Completion

The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School committee voted 7-1 Monday to allow the continued development of a new policy preventing nearly all student use of mobile phones during the school day.The vote was a green light for principal Sara Dingledy and a team of high school staffers to finish crafting the policy, which they’re calling Away for the Day.“We’ll plan to present what we’ve worked on over the summer at either an August meeting or a September meeting,” Ms. Dingledy told the school committee.The new rules won’t officially go into effect until committee members vote on the final version for the updated high school handbook, which they are reviewing this summer.In a group interview with the Gazette earlier this year, several teachers at the high school said unchecked use of personal laptops and phones has posed challenges in the classroom,as students play games, exchange messages and even cheat on tests and schoolwork.English teacher Kathryn Hennigan, counselor Cheryl Taylor and...