WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – On Tuesday, July 30, the New Hanover County Board of Education heard a presentation on cell phone use during an agenda review meeting.
Assistant District Attorney Ashton Herring discussed cell phone use by minors and potential charges associated with illegal actions.
Herring is the juvenile prosecutor for New Hanover Co. and explained trends she has seen, including students distributing obscene material during school, sometimes involving other students.
Starting Dec. 1, 16-17-year-olds who commit Class A-E felonies will be charged as an adult, meaning that students charged with child pornography could be charged in adult court instead of juvenile court, which means a bond, no right to confidentiality and no opportunity for records to be sealed.
A presentation from Yondr, the company that is launching a phone-free schools pilot program with Brunswick County Schools beginning at Cedar Grove Middle School and Town Creek Middle School, was scheduled for this meeting but was then postponed to the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting.
The program typically has students place their phone in a locked pouch when they enter the school, and then keep the pouch with them throughout the day. Then, students unlock the pouches with the help of staff as they leave the school.
Yondr advertises training and support to help staff implement the program, phone-free activity guides, and other resources.
The company has found nationwide success with the system, with NBC reporting that districts in 41 states have spent $2.5 million to buy pouches from Yondr in the past eight years.
According to Board member Pat Bradford, the board also voted to include the history of the Freeman family and Seabreeze Resort in the curriculum.
The Freemans were an African American family that owned thousands of waterfront land in the late 1800s ′s not far from Carolina Beach. By 1920, Freeman Beach was developed into a resort town called Seabreeze. It was a haven for African Americans living under the segregated Jim Crow South. Bradford says the curriculum will include live oral history recordings.
The presentation can be found here with historical information that will likely be the basis for the curriculum.
Meeting agendas are available online.
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