At the Board of Education meeting on May 6, 2026, the mobile device policy update was discussed. The current policy expires at the end of this school year, and the Board of Education plans to either renew it or implement a new policy.

If the current policy, which is full ban for Kindergarten through eighth grade and phone use at lunch only for high school students, was renewed, the Board of Education would plan to hire someone to enforce it, which would cost $75,000 a year. Hiring someone is part of four out of the five potential policies.

Other options include pouches, likely Yondr Pouches, which students would put their phones into at the beginning of the day. Students would be able to keep their phones with them, and teachers would have devices that could unlock them as needed. To ensure that students who leave midday, for things such as free period or appointments, there would also be unlocking devices located on campus, ideally with supervision. One drawback that the Board of Education was concerned about was the initial cost of $63,000 dollars, and a, likely annual or biannual, replacement cost of $30,000. 

Keeping mobile devices in lockers for middle and high school students was another idea, with an installment cost of $74,435 for cell phone size lockers. However, PUSD’s legal counsel said that this policy could present challenges if the lockers were not readily accessible as they must be in a case of an emergency because of California’s Phone-Free Schools Act. 

The middle school policy of phones being turned off and in backpacks all day was another idea, but there was concern about the difficulty of enforcing it. 

Lastly, the only option that would not need a new position to carry out the policy is cell phone signal detectors for every teacher. The Board of Education’s concerns were the cost of $800 per device and that it was unvetted technology.

Moving forward, the Board of Education will do a first reading of policy proposals during the meeting on May 20.