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Not Class Time

District policy · 2026-2027

South Brunswick School District

Middlesex County · K-12 district · Grades 9-12

Last verified · policy year 2026-2027 · policy 5516 · adopted August 20, 2026

Read this entry with one caveat

The period-by-period values come from South Brunswick High School's own two-page "Cell Phone Policy" handout for 2026-27. District-wide Board Policy 5516, revised 20 August 2026, imposes the same bell-to-bell ban across the district, but it leaves the clock times, the storage options and the consequence ladder to individual schools, so we do not claim the 7:40am-2:20pm span or the four-step ladder describes the district's elementary or middle schools. Two lines in the handout are deliberately NOT read as permissions for personal phones: "School-issued or approved personal laptops, when used for academic purposes, are allowed during class time" governs laptops, not phones; and "Off and away before the 1st bell" is a deadline for putting the phone away, not a statement about whether it may be used earlier, which is why before and after school stays unknown. Buses stay unknown too: Policy 5516 excludes school buses from its definition of "school grounds" and defers bus use to "age-appropriate and grade-level differentiated requirements" it never states, and the high school handout does not mention buses.

Period by period

2 of 6 not yet verified

Each row is either something this district’s own document says, or an explicit admission that we have not found it. We never infer one period from another. Passing time, lunch and study hall, the three periods the statute never mentions, are marked with an amber rule.Q8

Class time
Not allowed
Phones and other personal internet-enabled devices are prohibited.Instructional time. Restricted under the statute itself.
Passing timeNot named in the statute
Not allowed
Phones and other personal internet-enabled devices are prohibited.Between classes. NJDOE guidance restricts it; the statute never mentions it.
LunchNot named in the statute
Not allowed
Phones and other personal internet-enabled devices are prohibited.On-campus lunch. NJDOE guidance restricts it; the statute never mentions it.
Study hallNot named in the statute
Not allowed
Phones and other personal internet-enabled devices are prohibited.Study hall. NJDOE guidance restricts it; the statute never mentions it.
School bus
Not yet verified
We have not found a source that states this district's rule for this period. We have not guessed one.State guidance permits phones on buses unless the district goes further. A district rule here is stricter than the state floor.
Before and after school
Not yet verified
We have not found a source that states this district's rule for this period. We have not guessed one.State guidance permits phones outside the school day unless the district goes further.

How phones are stored

A local choice, not a state one

Varies by school

Different schools in the district use different storage methods.

Nothing is collected at the door. Students are told to "Turn it off & put in your locker, bag, or where your teacher directs," and the handout adds that they are "strongly encouraged to leave their phone at home, store their phones in their locker, or keep it turned off all day and left in their bag." Lockers are opt-in, requested through a form the handout links. "Away" is defined: "out of your hands and out of sight - not in a pocket, sleeve, or waistband."

What happens if the rule is broken

A four-step ladder, every step documented in Genesis. First offense: staff confiscate the device, the parent or guardian is notified by phone, and the student picks the phone up at the end of the day. Second: confiscation, phone call home, and the parent or guardian must collect the phone from the school. Third: confiscation, parent or guardian pickup, and In-School Intervention (ISI). Fourth and beyond: confiscation, parent or guardian pickup, and Out of School Suspension (OSS). Staff are told they will collect a violating device but "may not search its contents."

Asking for an exception

The statute names what a policy must accommodate

The handout lists what stays allowed: documented medical need (e.g., glucose monitoring) with health-care documentation on file, use required by an IEP, 504 plan or student health plan, translation support for multilingual learners, case-by-case approval for students who are routine caregivers for a family member, teacher-directed academic use approved by an administrator when no reasonable alternative exists, any use required by law, and "an emergency when you have to call 9-1-1." Families with an existing plan confirm details with the IEP manager or the 504 coordinator. Under Policy 5516 a parent submits a written request with supporting documentation to the Superintendent or designee, who answers within five school days; a staff member seeking an accommodation for a class must apply at least 30 school days ahead and is answered within seven. To reach a student mid-day, families call the main office rather than texting.

The statute itself names circumstances a policy must accommodate, including an IEP, a 504 plan, a documented health plan, translation needs, certain caregiving responsibilities, and emergencies.s.2.b(3)-(5)

In the district’s own words

Quoted exactly, not summarised
Cell Phone Policy - Learning First. Phones Away. All Day. Every Day. (SBHS Cell Phone Expectations 2026-27)2026-27 school year
Cell phones are not permitted at any time during school hours, 7:40am-2:20pm.

South Brunswick High School · read · Open the document

Everything else on this page is our reading of South Brunswick School District’s policy. This is the policy. We quote rather than paraphrase so you can check us against the document instead of taking our word for what it says.

Sources

2 primary, 1 corroborating

Nothing on this page can be published without at least one primary source attached to it. That is enforced by the database, not by a habit.

Something here wrong
or out of date?

Districts revise these policies, and NJDOE guidance tells them to revisit them every year. If this no longer matches what South Brunswick School District publishes, send us the document and we will re-read it.
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