Electronic Devices & Cellphones

SPS Issued Electronic Device Policy

Seattle Public Schools has a 1:1 electronic device policy. Students K-2 are issued iPads and students 3-5 are issued laptops. These devices will remain at school unless there is a special project to be done at home.

Cedar Park expectations for device use in the classroom is that students will use devices following teacher instructions during specific parts of the school day (Independent Work Rotations, Expedition research, etc.) When not in use, devices will be stored in charging carts in the classroom.

Students will be able to access SPS approved programs in order to complete their work. Learn more about these programs.

Students and families are responsible for district issued devices. Devices that are lost or damaged may incur a fee.

Read Superintendent Procedure 2022SP Electronic Resources/Use of the Internet

Personal Electronic Device & Cellphone Policy

While we understand that students may have personal electronic devices for a variety of reasons, at Cedar Park we expect that they will not be in the classroom and will not be used during the day. Exceptions will be made for students who need to be connected to their device for medical or safety reasons.

Electronic devices include, but are not limited to, cellphones, tablets, smart watches, step trackers, cameras (film or digital) and e-readers.

If a student needs to bring their device to school, the expectation is that the device will stay in the student’s backpack in their locker or cubby. If the device comes into the classroom:

The student will be asked to return it to their backpack in their locker or cubby.
If the device comes back a second time, the student will turn the device over to the teacher, who will contact the parent to notify them and then return the device to the student at the end of the day.
After the third time a device comes back to the classroom, it will be held in the office in a secure space and arrangements will be made with parents to pick up the device directly.

These expectations apply to district transportation as well. Students may not use electronic devices on school buses, school-chartered buses, or school-chartered taxis.

These expectations are in place both for the safety of your family’s expensive devices, but also for the safety and security of our students. Because electronic devices have such far-reaching capabilities (built-in cameras, voice recorders, social media apps, video apps, etc.), it is essential to the emotional well-being of our students that they are certain that they, their image, their voice, etc. are safe during the school day.

Texting and App Policy

Many electronic devices have texting and messaging capabilities. Students should not be communicating with anyone via their personal device during the school day, which includes recess. Teachers and staff will always help facilitate communication between students and family if requested by helping with phone numbers, landline phone how-to and a private space to have a phone conversation.

In addition to texting, students should not be accessing any apps on their personal device during the school day, which includes recess. This includes apps that connect to the internet (YouTube, Netflix, etc.) and apps that do not need the internet (solitaire, chess, etc.).

Smartwatches can be easily overlooked due to their size, but these are electronic devices that have the ability to text and open a variety of apps. You can enable SchoolTime Mode on an Apple Watch which will allow you to regulate when the device can be used. Similar parental controls are available for Android devices. Check with your cell phone vendor for information on how to access these controls. If a student is using their Smartwatch for texting or internet access, we will follow the same protocol as listed above in our personal electronic device and cellphone policy.