JFCK - Student Use of Personal Electronic Devices
Book: J
Section: Students
Title: Student Use of Personal Electronic Devices
Code: JFCK
Status: Active
Adopted: November 17, 2010
Revised: June 10, 2025
Student Use of Personal Electronic Devices
I. Purpose
The objective of this policy is to support the school district’s efforts to provide a safe, positive, and productive learning environment for students. While personal devices can be helpful for learning, they can also cause privacy concerns, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, negative mental health impacts, and learning environments where students are less engaged with their school community. Accordingly, regulation of students’ access to personal electronic devices during school is necessary.
II. Policy Statement
Personal electronic devices that are not issued by Portland Public Schools shall not be available or accessible to students for the duration of the school day.
III. Definitions
a. “Personal electronic device” means a device that electronically communicates, sends, receives, stores, reproduces, or displays voice and/or text communication, media, or data communication. Examples include but are not limited to cell phones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, and gaming devices.
b. The “duration of the school day” means the time from when the first bell rings indicating the start of instructional time, to the dismissal bell at the end of the academic day.
IV. Implementation of Policy
The Superintendent or their designee will develop associated rules to govern implementation of this policy, aligned to the following provisions:
a. The Superintendent or their designee will put in place mechanisms and procedures to ensure that students cannot access personal electronic devices not issued by Portland Public Schools until the end of each school day or, if a student leaves school campus, when that student leaves the building. The Superintendent or their designee will work with school administrators to establish rules and processes for safely storing, locking, or rendering functionally inaccessible any such devices when students enter school, and for making them accessible as students leave school and the care of Portland Public Schools.
b. Portland Public Schools is not responsible for the damage, loss, or theft of electronic devices that students choose to bring to school.
c. The Superintendent or their designee shall, in collaboration with staff in each building location, ensure that reliable mechanisms are in place to allow reasonable and necessary communication during the school day, including but not limited to, telephone calls and electronic messages sent via technology platforms on devices that are owned and controlled by Portland Public Schools.
d. The Superintendent or their designee shall, in collaboration with Information Technology (IT) and other operational staff, put in place processes to ensure students have appropriate access to the technology, content, and materials needed to support educational objectives during the school day.
e. Administrators may confiscate any personal electronic device seen or heard in a student’s possession during the school day in violation of this policy, and the student will be subject to applicable discipline procedures.
f. Exceptions to this policy will be very limited and only allowed when a student receives prior written authorization from a building administrator in accordance with the Superintendent’s rules. In the event that a student is authorized to have an electronic device on them at school, the device may not be used in any manner that disrupts the educational process, is illegal, or violates Board policies and/or school rules.
Adopted: November 17, 2010
Revised: June 10, 2025
Cross References
JFCK-R – Student Use of Electronic Devices (Rules) JIH – Questioning and Searches of Students
JICIA – Weapons, Violence, Bullying, and School Safety
JK – Student Discipline
Cross References