- October 10, 2024
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Volusia County Schools continues to update its student code of conduct in the wake of recent legislative changes, but questions remain about the state's new cell phone law.
In May, the governor signed House Bill 379, which prohibits students from using cellphones or other wireless communications devices during instructional time unless directed to do so by a teacher. At an Aug. 22 School Board meeting, board members approved advertising updates to 22 of the district's policies. Board member Ruben Colon asked if the new law covers students who film fights on campus — particularly high school campuses, where students are allowed to use cell phones during lunch period.
"We've said we hold that student accountable too," Colon said. "... One of the things that has happened with the recording is that [students] fight like Rocky, because they're being recorded."
Would that infraction now be a criminal act? Colon asked.
Patty Corr, VCS assistant superintendent for student services, said students who record would likely face consequences, but the consequences may not be as severe as those for students who fight. For example, she said, students who fight may be suspended for five days; a student who records may only be suspended for three.
"That's part of the discretion of the administrators on the scene processing the event," Corr said.
Though he acknowledged that recordings might help district staff see what happened during a student fight, Colon said he worried about the videos being shared on social media.
"Our kids need to know that you're a part of the problem if you're not a part of the solution," Colon said. "And I think that the cell phones are leading to those increased fights ... and there has to be a consequence for that."
School Board Chair Jamie Haynes mentioned a fight at the Seabreeze High School campus, where students positioned their phone cameras to record before the fight began, she said.
"I have real issues with videotaping of fights, or children being harmed, especially when it's premeditated," she said. "... The Seabreeze thing, we saw the cameras sitting right there on the ledge to tape what they were going to do."
Haynes agreed with Colon that there should be strict consequences for sharing fight videos.
Superintendent Carmen Balgobin directed staff to look into how other school districts handle fight recording. She reminded the board that high school students' use of cell phones during lunch is a privilege.
"I think we addressed that [that] also can be taken away," she said.
Volusia County Schools has a total of 149 policies. Of those, the district has reviewed 56 in the last three years. The batch of 22 proposed policy changes approved for advertisement on Aug. 22 would put the district on schedule to have all the policies that were created before 2016 updated by the fall of 2024.
