District policy · 2026-2027
Teaneck Public Schools
Bergen County · K-12 district
Last verified · policy year 2026-2027
Read this entry with one caveat
Teaneck's article explains the state requirement and links to “Teaneck Board of Education POLICY 5516”, but that link resolves to the district's older “Use of Electronic Communication and Recording Devices” policy, adopted 14 March 2012 and last revised 15 June 2022. No bell-to-bell revision had been posted to the public policy portal when we checked. The district says school-level procedures will be shared later.
Period by period
5 of 6 not yet verifiedEach 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 yet verified
- We have not found a source that states this district's rule for this period. We have not guessed one.Between classes. NJDOE guidance restricts it; the statute never mentions it.
- LunchNot named in the statute
- Not yet verified
- We have not found a source that states this district's rule for this period. We have not guessed one.On-campus lunch. NJDOE guidance restricts it; the statute never mentions it.
- Study hallNot named in the statute
- Not yet verified
- We have not found a source that states this district's rule for this period. We have not guessed one.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 oneWe have not found a source that states how this district stores devices during the day.
What happens if the rule is broken
We have not found this district’s stated consequences. Not yet verified
Asking for an exception
The statute names what a policy must accommodateWe have not found this district’s exception procedure. Not yet verified
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 summarisedBeginning this school year, New Jersey public school districts are required to implement a Bell-to-Bell policy, restricting student use of personal internet-enabled devices from the beginning of the school day through the dismissal bell.
Teaneck Public Schools · read · Open the document
Everything else on this page is our reading of Teaneck Public Schools’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
1 primary, 0 corroboratingNothing 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.
District decisionPrimary source
Understanding New Jersey's Bell-to-Bell Initiative
Teaneck Public Schools · August 25, 2026 · checked
Additional information regarding school-level procedures and expectations will be shared as we prepare for implementation.