Rio Rancho, Bernalillo schools differ on cellphone policies

RIO RANCHO — Rio Rancho and Bernalillo public school officials are applauding a new law requiring school districts and charter schools to adopt policies discouraging students from using cellphones and other electronic devices in class.

But neither school district is in alignment with the other when it comes to the provisions of Senate Bill 11, signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last Thursday.

While the Bernalillo Public Schools Board of Education approved a policy on electronic devices in March 2024, Rio Rancho Public Schools has yet to do so and announced Monday that it will draft a policy and send it to the RRPS Board of Education for approval “in the coming weeks.”

RRPS Board President Amanda Galbraith said in an interview Monday that the district’s legal counsel will review the law before submitting a draft policy for the board to review and approve.

“It is important for school districts and schools to have some sort of rule around (electronic communication devices) — because for teachers, it’s really frustrating when you’re in a classroom, and you have nothing that backs you up,” said Galbraith, who has two children attending Rio Rancho High School.

SB11 requires that by Aug. 1, schools will adopt and implement policies that will prohibit students from using electronic communication devices — including smartphones and laptops — during instructional hours, with some exceptions, or face consequences. The policy must be published on the school district’s or charter school’s website, according to the bill.

During the last school year, RRPS issued a revised behavioral plan that stated that middle and high school students are expected to power down their personal devices and store them away during instructional time. But the district has no policy, prompting officials to craft one and bring it to the board for review and approval, said RRPS spokesperson Wyndham Kemsley.

BPS Superintendent Matt Montaño said in an interview Monday that his district’s electronic devices policy “far exceed(s)” the provisions of the new law. The policy requires that all personal electronic communication devices be powered off during the school day, including lunch and recess.

Montaño said he has noticed the attention span of students has improved as a result of the policy. He recently saw a group of students playing the card game Uno during lunch.

“That’s powerful; that’s basic human interaction,” Montaño said. “I think those are things that are great for us.”

He said he has not heard a lot complaints about the policy from students because parents have been supportive of it.

“I think parents are ready to get their kids off of devices,” Montaño said.

He added that he thought a prohibition on cellsphones helps even when the school is facing a security problem to avoid the spread of misinformation.

I’ll read the (news) story that have no truth to them,” Montaño said. “You can get misinformation out there really quickly because people sensationalize.”

He believes the district needs to deploy communication to parents that reassures them about a security situation involving their children rather than students communicating with their parents.

“We have to have the most controlled crisis prevention response so that way, we can deal with the situation as quickly and as safely as possible,” Montaño said.