As students return to class on Monday in the Pella Community School District, they do so with restrictions on electronic devices.

Pella High School Principal Josh Manning says public and private schools across the state are now required to ban the use of devices during instructional time, and the Pella School Board wanted to take that one step further to keeping them out of sight during the entire school day.

Manning says some exceptions to the rule largely involve when students leave for open campus among their juniors and seniors, but otherwise, administration and staff will monitor for devices closely.

Manning believes other districts in the state that adopted similar policies have found anecdotal success in terms of student engagement and socializing. He encourages parents to utilize school emails for direct communication during the school day, as students will have access to Chromebooks for instructional purposes.

Read more about the policy below and hear more about its impact at Pella High School on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.