Harrisonburg schools might be cell phone-free by the middle of September.

The Harrisonburg City School Board unanimously approved the first reading of a new policy Tuesday evening prohibiting student cell phone use in classrooms.

Joy Blosser, the district’s chief academic officer, introduced the policy. She explained it was based on model policies introduced by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and an executive order from the governor to create cell phone-free schools.

The board members expressed a desire to implement the new policies as soon as possible out of concern that students would be confused if they passed in the middle of the school year. In addition, they expressed a need to carefully examine exceptions to the policy to discern between actual and non-true needs.

Superintendent Michael Richards cited success in Charlottesville schools after they implemented a similar policy and said it was essential to create a cell phone policy that would be universal across all city schools.

School board members plan to discuss the policy during a workshop meeting later this month and vote on the cell phone-free policy at its next regular meeting on Sept. 3.

The school district’s policy was last updated in 2012, according to Richards.

Enrollment Projections

The board heard updates on the school district’s enrollment projections for the upcoming year.

Superintendent Richards explained that the district is currently “in the throes of registration,” when families across the city are signing children up for classes before the new school year begins. He added that, partially as a result, some elementary schools in the city are experiencing overcrowding.

Richards said the school district would try to relieve overcrowding by redistributing students to other schools in the district.

Supplemental Appropriation Request

The board unanimously agreed to request a supplemental appropriation from the Harrisonburg City Council for funding to replace building equipment at Stone Spring Elementary School and Keister Elementary School.

At Stone Spring Elementary, a water heater must be replaced, while an air handler must be replaced at Keister Elementary.

Board Member Tom Domonoske expressed interest in working with city staff to allow funding for critical maintenance in the next city budget cycle so that, in the future, supplemental appropriations such as these would not be needed.

The maintenance will be carried out over the summer if the appropriation is approved.

New Staff

• The board announced a number of new faculty and administrative staff.
• Tonya Goodwin — director, Harrisonburg Support Academies
• Leatrice Woods — principal, Skyline Middle School
• Krista Smiley — dean of students, Skyline Middle School
• Jessica Mendez-Thompson — assistant principal, Thomas Harrison Middle School
• Amanda Wolcott — assistant director, Elon Rhodes Early Learning Center
• Ryan Henschel — assistant principal, Rocktown High School
• Durmount Perry — dean of students, Rocktown High School
• Ron Perry — assistant principal, Rocktown High School
• Kelly Troxell — assistant principal, Rocktown High School
• Daniel Kirwan — executive director, Finance
• Jessica Martin — assistant director, Finance
• Michael King — health, PE education and healthy life skills coordinator