Cellphones already banned from Windsor classrooms

Windsor teachers don’t expect much to change as the province bans cellphones in classrooms, with board rules across the region already restricting device use.

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced a strict crack down on devices for the 2024-25 school year – forbidding their use in class.

“This is about restoring focus during instructional time,” Lecce said. “Outside of that, during lunch or recess or spares, we're going to try to treat kids with a sense of personal responsibility.”

That’s already the rule within the Greater Essex County District School Board and Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board.

It’s the rule in most schools across Ontario.

Lecce said the blanket ban is about bringing uniformity to that.

“When it comes to cellphones, our policy is ‘out of sight and out of mind,’ as we get students back to the basics by restoring focus, safety and common sense back in Ontario schools,” the minister said.

Teachers’ unions not buying ban

Mario Spagnuolo, local president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario called the announcement a distraction.

“This is Minister Lecce trying to change the channel on the real issue.”

The real issue, according to Spagnuolo, is the new education funding model announced by the Ontario government Friday.

He – and Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation president Karen Littlewood – both said Monday the model doesn’t meet inflation.

“The Ford government can make all the distracting announcements they want about cell phones or vaping but without investing in the qualified, caring professionals that students need in schools and classrooms, student mental health needs will continue to go unaddressed,”Littlewood said in a statement.

She said the cellphone bans only add more work for teachers.

“Educators are fed up with being expected to keep doing more with less,” she wrote.

Under the policy, teachers will be able to take cellphones away from students who don't comply and send them to the principal's office.

Repeat offenders could be suspended and teachers will add student distraction levels within report cards.