MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Nearly 300 wireless devices were confiscated from Martin County students during the first week of school under an aggressive new policy in the school district.
According to numbers released to WPTV by the Martin County School District, 279 wireless devices were taken away from students. That includes cellphones, smartwatches, and earbuds.
Martin County High School had the most devices confiscated at 113, followed by 101 at South Fork High School and 48 at Jensen Beach High School.
In addition, five devices were confiscated at David L. Anderson Middle School, four at Stuart Middle School, four at Spectrum Academy, two at Willoughby Learning Center and one each at Indiantown Middle School and Hidden Oaks Middle School.
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Which local school district is taking the most strict approach to cellphones?
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Education
Last year, Florida law banned students from having phones out during instruction time.
However, not every local school district is tackling technology the same way.
The Martin County School District is the most aggressive with its new cellphone and wireless device consequences. If you have a wireless device out at any time during the school day — including in the classroom, hallways or at lunch — it will be taken away and only returned to your parent or guardian.
Superintendent Michael Maine said that when a phone is taken away, a teacher or staff member will bring it to the front office, where it will be documented and locked up.
Repeated violations in Martin County will lead to progressive discipline and could even result in suspension. The new policy also applies to AirPods and using smartwatches.
"Do you think this is gonna work?" WPTV education reporter Stephanie Susskind asked Maine before the start of the school year.
"I think if we are consistent as a district and every single school is being consistent throughout, we will be successful with this," Maine answered. "But it's gonna take not just us as a school district. I need the help from parents."
Maine added that cellphones are increasing bullying and online harassment and are "creeping in all kinds of inappropriate things that our students are doing."
"We need to regain control of that. And this is a step toward helping to mitigate that," Maine said.
As for our other local school districts, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties said they'll maintain current policy aligning with state law, which bans cellphones during instruction time unless a teacher allows it.
The School District of Indian River County said it focused on enforcing the law last year.
"We were drastically able to increase the amount of time our teachers can be providing quality instruction because they weren't cell phone police," Superintendent Dr. David Moore said. "So some of our success we had last year we contribute to cracking down on cellphones."
In Martin County, Maine said all principals have been trained on how to implement this new policy with their staff.
Martin County High School Junior Mia Lopez is concerned about the school district's new cellphone enforcement.
"Left and right, everyone is taking their phones. It's just very hectic," Lopez said. "I feel like it creates unnecessary stress and confusion, and I would love to have our voices heard."
Lopez created a change.org petition that gathered more than 2,000 signatures and sent it to the school board, hoping to see policy changes. Her petition is titled "Reinstate Smartphone Usage for Students during Non-Classroom Hours at Schools in Martin County."
Lopez worries parents and students won't be able to communicate if there is an emergency. While she understands the rules in place if a student uses their phone in class, she does not feel they should face the same consequences if a student has their phone out in the hallway or at lunch.
"I feel the policy and its consequences should be implemented only when the phone is out during class, outside of class it should not be implemented," Lopez said.
"We didn't really have an expectation, this is a new sense of enforcement," Derek Lowe, coordinator of public information and community relations for the Martin County School District, said. "I think this is a little bit of sticker shock. It's something new, something to get used to. We haven't had any issue that I've heard of with people getting combative or things escalating to the point SROs need to be called into classrooms."
Lowe said he wants parents to talk to their children about the change.
"We're happy with the way things are going," Lowe said. "We encourage parents to continue to talk to their kids about this new policy and the consequences that surround it. We don't want to inconvenience parents any more than we have to, but we have to do something to curb the use of these devices in our schools."
Parent Andi McAvoy said she wasn't surprised by the numbers.
"My son was actually one of those children that had his phone taken away on the second day," McAvoy said. "I knew it was going to happen, he’s very into his cell phone," she said. "I did have to go pick up the phone after school among other moms and dads that had to go as well, so there was quite a bit of us in the office."
She supports the rules in place and called this a learning curve for students.
"It's a rule, it’s like anything else," McAvoy said. "Wearing your school ID, getting to school on time and anything else. It's something new and the kids and everyone have to adapt to it."
