The growing presence of cellphones in the school setting has prompted area districts to evaluate their policies and procedures concerning student use of technology.Educators are finding that the frequency at which students are possessing phones can be both beneficial and detrimental in the classroom. Some teachers are finding creative ways to integrate them into the curriculum, while others view them as a distraction.Warren County R-III Assistant Superintendent Aaron Jones said the administration has left it up to the teachers to decide whether to allow students to use cellphones during class time.“It’s basically the teacher’s prerogative,” said Jones. “In some instances, teachers are using them for educational purposes. Some of the kids can listen to their headphones if they are working quietly, and that’s not against policy.”At Warrenton High School and Black Hawk Middle School, cellphones are allowed during lunch period and passing time between classes.Warrenton High School Principal Nick Heggemann said teachers are encouraged to establish their guidelines up front so the students have clear expectations for each classroom.R-III does not have specific consequences for cellphone misuse. If a student refuses to comply with a teacher’s requests concerning the phone, it’s simply considered insubordination.“It really just depends on how technologically savvy the teacher is and how interested they are using phones as a classroom resource,” said Heggemann, who says the most frequent misuse centers around texting and social media as being a distraction.Jones says in the past cellphones were helpful in ensuring students had easy access to the Internet for research and Google searches. But with the growing implementation of Chromebooks into the classroom, the use of cellphones for Wi-Fi purposes should be diminishing.Still, some teachers are getting creative by using apps that allow students to answer questions through their phones for test review sessions. Others are using cellphones as a way to conduct formative assessment.“Students can be logged in, and the teacher puts the question on the board and students are able to answer their phone,” explained Jones.The district does provide an open Wi-Fi with safety filters so students are not required to use their personal data.Administrators say cellphones are less common at the elementary levels, but some students do carry them for contacting parents or staying connected after school.“You don’t see them in the classroom or as a distraction nearly as much,” added Jones.Wright CityWright City R-II Superintendent David Buck says phones do not pose a problem nearly as much as they did a decade ago. He is finding them to be very resourceful in his district.“We have very few incidents of concern as compared to 10 years ago,” said Buck. “We find the kids are using them for calendars to track assignments, Google Drive and apps like Socrative to be interactive with the curriculum.”High School Principal Shawn Brown echoed those sentiments.“We haven’t seen a spike in anything we weren’t seeing before we started this bring your own device policy,” said Brown, who notes that technology has become very beneficial."We have a lot of students using their phones to access Google Classroom or Drive as well as some using them to do formative assessments or taking quizzes with an app,” added Brown. “Right now we also have some kids putting together campaign videos for a mock election using their phones.”Brown says the school has open Wi-Fi that is protected through GoGuardian. YouTube is also available, as it serves many positive roles.Currently, Brown says the most frequent phone-related distractions the school has are from students trying to play Madden video games or watch Netflix during instruction time.Cellphones