The Nebraska State Legislature recently mandated that schools need to adopt a policy regarding cell phone usage within the building during the school day. That prompted the Callaway Board of Education to address the issue, which included an opportunity for parents to participate in the discussion or give feedback regarding the policy. That opportunity was given during the board’s regular meeting on July 14, with no one offering input to the board.

CPS Superintendent JD Furrow explained that enacting a policy is a bit challenging. Regulations could include absolutely no cell phones from the first bell of the day to the last bell of the day, including between periods and at lunch.

“Then on the other hand, you have staff members who have kids use their cell phones to take pictures for classes or they will have apps on them for lessons they are doing. So, the difference between it being a tool and a distraction is something we are still working on,” Furrow said. “We have a policy meeting coming up where we are going to really hash it out.”

The district has also been researching vape detectors for some time, and following the recommendation of other districts, CPS has chosen to enter into an agreement with the company Zeptive to install vape detectors in the school bathrooms and locker rooms in hopes of deterring vaping on school grounds. This is an issue the board has been discussing for a few months as Furrow conducted research into various companies and what that would look like for the district.

“We should have them up and running for the start of the school year,” Furrow said.

Policy reviews took up a large portion of the meeting. One section of those were updates to existing policies that have been revised as a result of the last legislative session. Furrow explained that policies on cell phone usage and student dress code are being pushed to the policy committee to review and bring back to the board.

The final group of policies was also reviewed and approved. “We have now gone through the entire policy book and everything has been assessed and updated, so we should have a current policy book now,” Furrow said.

Another action item taken by the board was an increase in life insurance coverage for most of the staff members and the addition of short-term disability to beef up the full-time benefits package.

The board approved a bid from Country Partners Co-Op to provide propane to the district for 2025-26, and took action to formally dissolve the unified bowling co-op as a team is no longer in place.

The next meeting of the Callaway school board will be Aug. 11 at 8 p.m.