Blue Valley Unified School District 229
District administrators announced that elementary and middle school students will no longer be allowed to possess or ride motorized or electric bikes and scooters on district property starting Jan.
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The policy desk
The debate over phones, screens and the school day.
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How artificial intelligence is changing classrooms and school rules.
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Students speaking up, organizing and helping shape their schools.
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Dodge City Unified School District 443
USD 443 is proposing free breakfast for every Pre-K–12 student through May 25, 2027. The plan would refund breakfast charges paid since school began on August 18 and use an estimated $200,000 from the district’s Food Service Fund; continuation would be evaluated in June 2027.
The board approved a Student Handbook change setting school discipline for possessing live or spent ammunition on school property. The listed consequences range from 1–3 days of in-school suspension for a first offense to a one-year expulsion for a third offense, with administrators allowed to impose stronger penalties based on the incident.
The board voted 5–2 to leave the NCKL and directed the administrator to apply for Big East League membership. The vote authorizes an application; the minutes do not say Big East has accepted the district.
Kansas State Board of Education
A draft policy would guide local rules for school technology, AI, privacy and digital citizenship. It was still a draft in the reviewed October discussion.
Kansas State Board of Education
The Department asked school systems to certify their personal-device and social-media policies by August 31. That was its operating deadline; the law’s certification date was September 1.
The board approved revisions to its Staff Online Activities policy, distinguishing public, one-way school communications from prohibited private or two-way social-media interactions with students. It also directs employees to use board-approved tools for official district business while allowing appropriate educational communication through district-approved platforms.
On August 20, 2026, the board voted 7-0 to let qualifying 7th and 8th graders play two sports in the same season if they sign a contract to keep up their grades and attendance. On September 10, it added a junior high and high school dual-sports policy to the student handbook.
The board updated policy JCDC to bar student use of personal electronic communication devices throughout the school day unless a listed exception applies.
Gardner Edgerton Unified School District 231
The board approved a policy that bars student phone use from the start of school until the end of the day.
On August 10, 2026 the board voted to remove the ability for people to comment on USD 351 posts on all social media platforms.
On August 10, 2026 the board voted 7-0 to apply for a campus police department and to post a job for a school security officer. It also said that if any ammunition is found on campus, staff must act as if a gun is there: call police, lock down the campus and message parents.
Concordia Public Schools USD 333
The USD 333 Board of Education approved the 2026–2027 district calendar on August 10, 2026.
Starting in 2026-27, Brewster students may not use phones or smartwatches during the school day. Students in grade 5 and under may not bring them at all. Students in grades 6-12 lock them in a Yondr pouch each morning and unlock it after school. The board approved the policy on July 20, 2026.
On July 20, 2026, the superintendent reported that 20 students were chronically absent in 2025-26, meaning they missed about 10% or more of the 147 school days. Thirty-five students missed 5 days or fewer.
Norton Community Schools USD 211
A new Kansas law bans student cell phones in schools. Under it, the elementary handbook says phones, smart watches and other devices must be kept in a secured place from bell to bell. In July the board approved 2026-27 handbooks and a letter to parents about the phone ban and a ban on staff-student direct social media messages.
On July 13, 2026 the board approved a cell phone policy and the junior and senior high handbook for 2026-27. The superintendent had given cell phone policy updates at the May and June meetings.
On July 13, 2026 the board adopted policy JCDC, which limits students' use and possession of phones and other personal devices during the whole school day, as a new Kansas law (Sub. for HB 2299) requires. The student handbook was updated to match.
In June 2026 the superintendent recommended dropping the federal Community Eligibility Provision, which gives free meals to all students, and going back to paid student meals. In July the board approved 2026-27 meal prices.
After Kansas passed a school cell phone law, the board approved the 2026-27 student handbooks on July 13, 2026 with smart devices added to every rule about technology. It also limited staff-student messaging to ParentSquare, Remind and TeamReach.
The board adopted policy JCDC on student personal electronic communications and aligned the student code of conduct; the public minutes do not reproduce the full rule language.
A June board memo recommends that most school-related communications move to ParentSquare for the 2026-27 school year.
Dodge City Unified School District 443
Dodge City added its adopted cell-phone policy to elementary, secondary, and early-learning handbooks for the 2026-27 school year.
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