Jeffco school board adopts student device policy with classroom limits for high schoolers

Jeffco Public Schools’ board voted 4-1 on June 11 to adopt a student device policy ahead of the state’s July 1 deadline, requiring phones and earbuds to stay “off and away” all day for K-8 students while applying a narrower instructional-time rule in high school.

The meeting record shows directors Michelle Applegate, Erin Kenworthy, Peter Gibbins and Tina Moeinian voted yes, while Denine Echevarria voted no. During the board’s discussion, Echevarria said she opposed the measure because it did not go far enough toward an “away all day” rule for all grades.

The board adopted revised policy JSA and regulation JSA-R. The adopted language says students in grades K-8 must keep phones and earbuds “off and away” during the school day on campus, while students in grades 9-12 must keep them off and away during instructional time, with exceptions allowed by a supervising educator for a specific academic purpose and by school leaders in alternative-school and career-and-technical-education settings, the policy packet says.

Students also must use district-assigned devices for schoolwork during the school day and may not use personal laptops or tablets for that purpose, the adopted packet says. The district’s posted policy page says schools may not restrict personal-device use when it is needed for a medical emergency, medically necessary purposes or a disability-related accommodation.

The main dispute in the June 11 debate was whether high school students should face a bell-to-bell restriction. During the meeting discussion, supporters of a broader ban urged the board to require phones to stay away all day for all grades, including lunch and passing periods, arguing that a simpler districtwide rule would better reduce distractions and avoid uneven enforcement. Echevarria said the adopted version still allowed too much access during lunch, passing periods and exceptions, and said school-to-school variation could produce unequal benefits and unequal discipline.

Other board members backed the instructional-time approach for high school students and described it as easier to implement while the district gathers results. In the same discussion, Kenworthy said enforcing a bell-to-bell rule during lunch and passing periods could create additional discipline problems. Board members also cited the need for flexibility in settings such as internships, alternative programs and career-and-technical education.

Public comment reflected pressure in both directions. Speakers who wanted a stricter policy argued that allowing phones at lunch and in passing periods would still carry distractions into class, while another speaker urged the board to preserve access during those parts of the day, according to the meeting discussion.

Schools have more than a year to fully align with the new rules. The policy packet says schools were to begin working toward implementation once the board approved the policy and must be “in full compliance with all requirements of the policy by July 2027.” Each school also must publish or update its campus policy on its website before the school year starts.

That leaves room for campus-level differences this fall. The district’s posted policy page says schools must at minimum adopt the district rules but may add use parameters appropriate to their campuses. The adopted regulation leaves schools responsible for defining storage expectations, enforcement procedures, retrieval of confiscated devices and other rules for instructional and non-instructional time.

The district also plans annual review. The posted policy page says JSA and JSA-R will be revisited each year through a monitoring report. During the June 11 discussion, multiple board members said they want follow-up reports on enforcement, consistency in discipline, academic effects, educator workload and equity.

One issue remains unclear in the adopted record. The district’s policy language says violations may result in discipline under the district matrix “up to and including suspension or expulsion,” but it also says suspension and expulsion are not sanctioned disciplinary actions for cell phone infractions. Public records reviewed for this story do not resolve that apparent conflict.

Jeffco’s action follows a 2025 Colorado law requiring school boards, charter schools and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind to adopt, implement and post a student communication-device policy by July 1, 2026. The Colorado Department of Education says the law is intended to reduce distractions and cyberbullying while supporting student health, safety and welfare.

The vote sets a districtwide floor rather than a single bell-to-bell rule for every campus. Jeffco rejected a districtwide away-all-day requirement for high school students while preserving annual review and school-by-school implementation as the policy rolls into the 2026-27 school year.