Northern Ont. school board prepares for cellphone rule changes
Students in Ontario will be ringing in the new school year with their phones on silent or put away in lockers or assigned personal spaces next week as the Ministry of Education rolls out new cellphone rules across the province.
'For Grades, from kindergarten to Grade 6, students are asked to keep their phone, in their personal space. If they have a locker or a personal space, that's where their phone has to be,' said Bruce Bourget, Rainbow District School Board's director of education
'For Grades 7 to 12, It's the same. you know, the difference is before and after school, during lunchtime, there is permission to use it, but in a respectful way. The difference for us. That might be, noted from others is that we are not asking students to bring their phone to class and store them. We feel that that is not an effective use of time or funds.'
Bourget told CTV News cellphone use will be permitted for educational purposes as directed by an educator and in specific situations for health and medical purposes.
He said teachers will be the ones enforcing the rules with the focus first on education.
'The education piece is to say, you know, for the brief period of time during the day that you're in class, honor the moment, be present. Now, engage with your peers and your teachers and dig into the learning and not be distracted,' said Bourget.
'We're not looking to start with a punitive approach. If someone is persistent, there is progressive discipline.'
Sarah Macdougall is an elementary school teacher in the board and a parent of teens, she told CTV News that she feels it's a good thing.
'From an educators perspective, we don't have to worry about managing the protocols it's already been outlined for us, so we don't have to worry about that,' she said.
'Then I also feel like as a parent of teenagers who are in high school I also see that they don't have to manage, what's cool or what's not. They just have to put their cellphones away. So walking back into that 2025 school year, we feel like, okay, teachers can teach, students can learn without that distraction.'
However – not everyone feels it will be an easy transition.
Several students told CTV News that that some of their peers may have a hard time with the change.
Our cameras caught up with some students preparing for back to school and this is what some of them had to say:
'I see a lot of people that can't really like apart from their phone – well, I guess I am one of those people,' said one student.
'It makes sense because it has kind of gotten a problem, especially in the learning environment,' said another.
'But some like states or some areas are taking it too far.'
The Rainbow District School Board put out a survey about the cellphone changes last spring which saw more than 2,000 people respond.
The survey showed 85 per cent of parents felt phones are a distraction and 87 per cent said prolonged social media use is not good for mental health.
For more details on the board's new cellphone policy and administrative procedures, visit their website.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Inside the police unit designed to reduce tensions in some parts of Montreal
In response to rising crime rates and issues with coexistence in places like Montreal's Village neighbourhood, an SPVM pilot project has begun sending out specialized patrols focused on non-confrontational approaches to improving relationships and preventing crime.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Sentencing in 'extraordinary' revenge porn, sex assault case proceeds as convict absconds justice
A judge is now considering what sentence to hand down to a U.S. man convicted in Ottawa of sexually assaulting a young woman, then, after she had left him, embarking on a campaign of criminal harassment against her, her family and her former boyfriend, as well as publishing her intimate images online. It comes after David Bukoski was found to be absconding justice when he failed to show up in person to Superior Court Justice Adriana Doyle's judgment back in March, in which she found him guilty of eight of the 13 charges he faced in a case she called "unusual and extraordinary." The sentencing phase is proceeding in absentia. Bukoski's trial was mammoth, sitting for about 60 days over the course of three years. He had been given permission to attend virtually from his home in Pennsylvania while the evidence was heard due to his health problems, and even to testify remotely. That permission was revoked ahead of Doyle's judgment but he showed up online anyway, then failed to return at all after the lunch break. After the judgment, defence lawyer Mellington Godoy removed himself as counsel, given that Bukoski was found to be absconding and Doyle was signing a warrant for his arrest. Godoy participated in Wednesday's sentencing as an amicus curiae, or friend of the court. Bukoski has not been arrested for absconding. Sentencing is expected to be completed ahead of the arrest and extradition proceedings, which could take months. The Crown is asking for a 10-year prison sentence, among other orders. Godoy said the range is five years on the low end and 10 on the high end. 'Stole my teenage years' The now 25-year-old victim, who cannot be identified due to a routine publication ban protecting her, read a long impact statement in court Wednesday, with her support dog at her side and her family in the gallery behind her. She met Bukoski online just before she turned 13, when she was "impressionable, naive, and unaware of how vulnerable I truly was." He was around 18, "had power," and "knew exactly how to manipulate, how to exploit and how to keep control." She said the trauma inflicted on her as a child "stole my teenage years" and continues "to affect my relationships, my health, my trust in people and my ability to feel safe in the world." Bukoski sexually assaulted her in the summer of 2017. He took her virginity, forcefully penetrated her "and left me with no concept of what a positive or consensual sexual experience was supposed to feel like," she told court. As a result, her two subsequent long-term relationships have suffered. After she left him, Bukoski began his harassment and she contacted police. She told court that "unlike the abuse I had endured in silence since I was 13, this time it wasn't just directed at me — it spilled into every corner of my life." He sent unwanted food deliveries to her home, made threats against her family and targeted their workplaces, and contacted her school and employer. He hacked her online accounts and posted her private information online, including her Social Insurance Number, banking details, school records and her family's employment information. He faked his own suicide twice to torment her. After the first suicide hoax he posted her intimate images online and sent an email to her school accusing her of sleeping with teachers in exchange for grades. 'It was a multi-year trauma' Then Bukoski called in a fake threat involving her then boyfriend, who was arrested at gunpoint and held in custody for hours. Weeks later, the boyfriend's car was firebombed in the driveway of his family's home. Bukoski was charged in connection to an alleged firebombing plot and attempted murder — and a man testified that he had planted a bomb at Bukoski's behest — but Bukoski was found not guilty of all those charges. While the court found it probable that Bukoski provided information to the man and may have manipulated him, it ruled the evidence did not meet the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The man's testimony contained inconsistencies and there was no corroborating evidence linking Bukoski directly to the attack. The former boyfriend read his own victim impact statement Wednesday, saying he genuinely thought he was going to die when screaming police arrested him with their guns drawn, that the firebombing robbed him and his family of their sense of safety, and that the emotional scars haven't faded. "This wasn't just a period of stress or discomfort. It was a multi-year trauma. The defendant's actions hijacked my life. They invaded my home, my relationships, my ability to trust, my sleep, my mental health and my future," he said. Everything stopped when Bukoski was arrested in July 2018. Ending her statement, the assault victim said her mental health, education and career paths and ability to grow her family have all been negatively affected by Bukoski and the trauma he caused. The Crown is seeking about $30,700 in restitution for her. Won't return hacked email account Court heard Wednesday that Bukoski is continuing to prevent the victim from accessing her Gmail account, which the judge found he had hacked. While the court waited for the judge to come back to court to address the issue, Crown prosecutor James Cavanagh told the victim in the courtroom that Godoy had asked Bukoski for the password to the account earlier Wednesday, and that Bukoski had replied and declined. When Doyle returned, Cavanagh asked her to write an endorsement asking Google to consider returning the account to the victim's control. He said someone from the Crown's office would pass that on to Google, with whom the office apparently has a "good working relationship," according to assistant Crown prosecutor Matthew Brown. "I just don't like this person to continue to have a tie on my life," the victim told the judge, when asked for her comments. Doyle said she would write the endorsement. Doyle's sentencing decision is expected in September.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Why do people drink and drive? A former drunk driver explains
Judy Wells lost her brother to a drunk driver when he was only 13 — it never stopped her from drunk driving herself. When she was an active alcoholic, the Toronto woman says she had this feeling of invincibility any time she drank that convinced her she could get behind the wheel. "The thought of what happened to my brother never stopped me from getting into a car," she said. She even drove along the same road where a driver killed her brother in 1966. He was picked up by two teen boys who "raced through town" and flipped the car into a lake. They survived "without a scratch," she said. "[My brother] died in the ambulance on the way to the Newmarket hospital." Despite education and advocacy campaigns about drunk driving's many harms — emotional, financial and legal — Toronto police say incidents of impaired driving have stayed steady over the last four years. Last year, more than 2,600 people were charged with impaired driving. In May, three children were killed after the car they were travelling in was hit by another vehicle that was allegedly speeding near Renforth Drive and Highway 401. WATCH | Man charged with impaired driving after 3 children killed: 3 children killed in Toronto crash, man faces impaired driving charges 2 months ago Duration 2:44 Three children are dead after an overnight collision in the west end of Toronto. A woman, 35, and a man, 40, were taken to hospital along with a 10-year-old child. All three are in non-life threatening condition. Police say a 19-year-old man has been charged with impaired driving causing death. Ethan Lehouillier of Georgetown, Ont., was arrested at the scene. He is facing 12 charges, including three counts of impaired driving causing death. Shortly after, Jennifer Neville-Lake, whose own three children were killed along with their grandfather by a drunk driver in a crash nearly a decade prior, shared her "grief and solidarity" in a post on social media. Lack of education around alcohol and its impact, researcher says Wells says she suffered from alcoholism for 22 years, a problem that ran in her family. She drank heavily in her 20s and 30s. She says she only managed to get help after a drunken blackout during a business trip forced her to re-examine her circumstances. But when she drank and drove, Wells says she wasn't thinking about the consequences. "There's no understanding, there's no forethought of what the possibility is that you could kill someone," Wells told CBC Toronto. There are a variety of reasons people drink and drive, says Dr. Christine Wickens, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). "Sometimes individuals aren't well educated on the effects of alcohol on the body," she said. "Sometimes they make a poor decision in the moment. Sometimes they are suffering from a substance use disorder like alcoholism." Wickens says sometimes people are more affected by alcohol than they realize and that's why its important to get educated on the effects of alcohol on the body, and how that differs from person to person. "People often believe, well, I can have two drinks in an hour and still get behind the wheel," she said. "Maybe for some [people] maybe that's true, but not for most people." It is illegal in Canada for a driver to operate a vehicle if impaired by alcohol, drugs or both. Drivers with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 per cent are considered impaired under the Criminal Code and subject to potential charges. For young, novice or commercial drivers, no alcohol can be present in the system while operating a vehicle. Wickens says research shows that higher rates of risky driving behaviour, including impaired driving, are committed by younger people, sometimes associated with their desire for thrill seeking behaviour, but she cautions against associating younger drivers with impaired driving. "The idea that it's a young person making a dumb decision — I don't think that's a reasonable conceptualization of impaired driving," she said. "Impaired driving can happen in all age groups, all sexes and genders. It's committed by all income groups, all ethnicities." Messaging needs to change: Toronto police Police officers are met with a whole "gamut of excuses" when people are pulled over for suspicions of impaired driving, according to Matt Moyer, acting superintendent of Traffic Services at Toronto police. "I think impaired driving for many people is opportunity impaired driving. I don't think people purposely go out [to drink and drive]," he said. "It's a lot of people who are working and can't afford to get caught. They'll often tell you that, for one reason or another, [they're] down on their luck, lost their job, lost their girlfriend, [their] dog died." Police say Sundays, between midnight and 4 a.m have had the highest rates of impaired driving occurrences over the past 11 years. Moyer says he's seen a "big improvement" when it comes to people making alternative plans to get home when they know they're going to have a night of drinking. But with actual incidents of impaired driving still holding steady year after year, he says it's clear that messaging needs to change. "We live in a Netflix world right now, and I think that our marketing and our messaging has to be dynamic and impactful. Don't wait till Christmas to put out a don't drink and drive campaign. Do it all year round," he said. Once, Moyer said, somebody charged with impaired driving told him they wished they'd realized they could have avoided "spending $4,000 on a lawyer, getting arrested, going to court, losing my job" for the price of a $55 cab ride. "That was quite impactful," Moyer recalled. As for Wells, at the age of 74, she's now been sober for 33 years. She's an advocate for treatment, even raising money to support a dedicated research chair in emergency medicine addiction and mental health at Mount Sinai Hospital. But since getting sober, she says she's often thought about what could have happened all those times she got behind the wheel. "I'm not proud of it," Wells said. "There's a lot of shame around what I did. I believe that I have some angels watching over me, that my brother's number was up and mine wasn't."
