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Dear District 113 Community,
At two recent Board meetings, we discussed important changes across our district beginning during the upcoming 2025-2026 school-year.
Cell Phones
As recently communicated in the Principal’s Newsletter to D113 families, there will be changes to our cell phone policy and procedures during the 2025-2026 school-year. Over the past year, the district engaged in a process to determine our stance on cell phone use within our schools. The process included stakeholder surveys, focus groups, planning meetings, research, and policy and procedure reviews. The feedback and information gathered was instrumental in shaping our direction.
To minimize school distractions and enhance student focus and engagement, District 113 has adopted a “No Cell, Bell to Bell” cell phone policy and aligned procedures that will be implemented at the start of the 2025-2026 school-year. Cell phone use will not be permitted during class and/or scheduled time (e.g., assemblies, special activities). Students will be required to silence their phones or put them on airplane mode and store them in the designated phone pouch/storage systems, which will be available in each instructional and support space. Phones may be used before or after school, during passing periods, and at lunch. Otherwise, students should not expect to access their phones during scheduled periods during the day.
District-Issued Devices
In alignment with the changes to our cell phone policy and procedures, beginning this fall (2025-2026 school-year), 9th and 10th grade students will be required to use their district-issued Chromebook during class/instructional time. Personal devices such as laptops and tablets will not be permitted for use for 9th and 10th grade students beginning this fall. 11th and 12th grade students will be permitted to use their personal devices during the upcoming school-year, but are strongly encouraged to begin the transition early.
During the 2026-2027 school-year, all students will be required to use district-issued Chromebooks and personal devices will not be permitted for all D113 students during class periods/instructional time. This modification to our district-issued device expectations was discussed along-side discussions regarding our cell phone changes. Unlike our cell phone changes, the use of district-issued Chromebooks will be phased in.
As we have done since implementing our 1:1 initiative, all D113 students will continue to receive a district-issued Chromebook, but as described, the expectation for use will shift over the next two school-years. Additionally, 11th and 12th grade students who are permitted to use their personal devices during this interim period will be required to install an SSL certificate and sign-in to the district network. The SSL certificate allows the district to monitor all network traffic. Guest network access will no longer be available to students. While changes to our district-issued devices are aligned with our cell phone shifts, these changes are also being implemented as an additional district-wide safety measure.
To support the updated cell phone use policy and the use of district-issued devices (Chromebooks), District 113 Board policies and procedures have been revised accordingly. These updates are not optional; they are now a requirement and expectation for all students and staff.
Additional Communication
All D113 students, their families and staff will receive additional information regarding these changes, prior to the start of the school-year and throughout the school-year to support a positive transition to these updated procedures.
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback and contributed to these changes for our district. We will remain in communication with you and appreciate your continued understanding and support.
District 113 Administration
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