The Rockingham County School Board may ban displays of certain flags on school property — and they discussed this and other possible new policies at a Tuesday morning work session.

Flag Policy

A potential new policy on flag displays would allow only certain flags to be displayed on school property and in classrooms. These include the American flag, state flags, local government flags, and flags of the armed forces or the school.

Flags of other countries “recognized by the United States” would be able to be displayed only in foreign language and ESL classrooms, or temporarily as part of an event.

Other types of flags, such as LGBT pride flags or those of countries not recognized by the United States would not be allowed in classrooms.

The board held its first reading of the proposed “flag, decor and displays” policy at the work session, which school board chair Matt Cross described as a measure to help promote patriotism among students.

“There’s a flag for every cause out there. We want to make sure the American flag is the predominant flag students are seeing throughout the school year,” Cross said. “The American flag is the most inclusive flag throughout all nations.”

The measure would also require the United States flag to be displayed in a prominent position relative to other flags around it.

Cell Phones

Board members also discussed a potential policy to ban cell phones during the school day for high school students. Phone use is already banned during the school day for middle schoolers, and a possible new measure would apply this ban to high schoolers.

“Why would you carve out time in the day for it, if you know something is bad?” superintendent Larry Shifflett commented.

The policy was introduced during a July 8 school board meeting, and board members are trying to iron out details of the policy before it is brought to the board again. Board members discussed when exactly the “school day” starts in terms of cell phone use — whether it is the first bell, or at the doors of the school building.

Board member Hollie Cave said she was in favor of making students put their phones away before entering the school building.

“The idea is eventually, we’ll break this cycle once the school becomes known as a place where I don’t do cell phone stuff.” Cave said.

Board members also discussed possible changes to consequences for students who bring drugs to school. Cross suggested that instead of a student going before the School Board after a third drug offense, they go after a second offense.

Some board members also suggested stronger penalties for students who bully or physically threaten others, including not starting with a “clean slate” every school year for repeat offenders.

“I don’t want kids to think, ‘Oh, it’s only my first offense; I’m just getting one to three [days],” said board member Ashley Burgoyne, giving the hypothetical situation of a student threatening to strangle another with a backpack strap. “No, you're gone.”

The next school board meeting will be Aug. 12. No agenda has been released for the meeting so far, but the board will likely introduce the flag policy and could vote on a cellphone ban.