S.D. school districts are banning cell phones. Will the state follow?

Lawmakers, education leaders weigh policy proposals for electronic devices in classrooms

(Joe Sneve/The Dakota Scout)

Gettysburg School District Superintendent Amber Mikkelsen didn’t mind that her out-of-town trip coincided with the day she would announce on the district’s Facebook page that starting next school year, students would no longer have access to their phones during the school day.

Mikkelsen and her school board had been researching the topic for months before they came to their final decision — and were prepared for the worst in reaction to the policy change, a gut punch for their 210 students.

“I joked with my family before I posted it that I waited to let the cat out of the bag until I was on vacation,” Mikkelsen said.

But the deluge of angry parents never came. Instead, Gettysburg’s policy change has become a touchpoint between a national conversation on classroom cell phone bans and South Dakota, making many both in-state and local leadership wonder if it could be a model for the whole state.

NEWS: Air Force offers scathing critique of Ellsworth command after January bomber crash