Madison schools have a new cell phone policy, but one thing hasn't changed: it will still be up to individual schools to figure out the logistics.

After months of deliberation, the Madison school board voted 5-2 on June 22 to approve a stricter cell phone policy requiring wireless devices to be turned off, stored and inaccessible to students throughout the school day. High school students will be allowed to use their devices during lunch, but not during passing periods — a notable change from earlier drafts of the policy.

But just how those devices will be “stored” is not spelled out in the policy.

Ian Folger, the school district’s public information officer, says “stored” could be “keeping [devices] in backpacks, lockers or other storage solutions in classrooms.” The decision is up to each school.

“My understanding of what the board said is that each high school is going to have the freedom to choose for themselves what is going to work best at their school,” Jacqui Shore, co-founder of Parent Check on Tech, said on June 24 in conversation with host Ali Muldrow on WORT-FM’s talk show A Public Affair. “There may be a high school that would say stored away can be stored in a backpack, but I also know from reading a lot of research that that would not be the best option for students.”

“I got the same impression as you,” said Muldrow, a Madison school board member, “that there is flexibility for schools and educators to  make real decisions about how we approach this in the fall, and that the schools are different. They have different populations, they're different sizes and they may want to approach this in different ways.”

Muldrow also spoke with Amy Martino, co-founder of Parent Check on Tech, about the new cell phone policy. Shore and Martino have spent months advocating for all-day cell phone bans for all students, and rallied a group of parents to testify with them at several board meetings.

Muldrow has been vocal about her concern that a stricter policy with disciplinary consequences could disproportionately affect students who already face discipline. At a June 15 special board meeting, Muldrow and several other school board members amended the proposed policy to include implementation guidance for school staff that moves away from punitive discipline. The new framework emphasizes teaching students clear tech expectations and using supportive interventions, rather than escalating to harsher consequences like suspension. With these changes, Muldrow voted in favor of the policy at the full board meeting on June 22.

Board members there agreed that the wording of the policy should remain flexible so that each school can determine the enforcement plan that works for them. On her show, Muldrow reiterated the importance of this approach.

“ When you're trying to do the right thing for everybody, you realize how much you don't know," said Muldrow. “I have never thought about what it means to be 8 years old and be homeless and to have your mom give you a phone and tell you, ‘You need to call your aunt after school to figure out who's gonna pick you up and where we're going today.’”

Shore and Martino also acknowledged that when they started advocating for all-day bans they were unaware of how many kids had unique situations and might need access to their phones.

“ In listening to the board conversations, it became very clear to me that there are so many circumstances where parents have real needs to be in contact with their kids in situations that had never occurred to me. The board definitely looked at nuance in ways that I hadn't,” said Shore.

“Going into this, I thought kids should just have to leave their phones in their lockers,” said Martino. “Well, then I learned that there aren't enough lockers in the high schools. Not every kid has a locker.”

Throughout their discussion, the group emphasized that the issue had too many nuances for a one-size-fits-all approach, especially in a district as large as Madison Metropolitan School District.

“ We're talking about thousands of kids,” Muldrow said. “We have more kids who go to West High School — that's one high school — than attend every school in Waunakee.” She added, “this is not a casual decision.”

To comply with state law, the Madison school board needed to reach an agreement and vote on a device policy by July 1. The approved policy will go into effect for the 2026-27 school year and applies not only to cell phones, but all wireless devices, including smart watches, earbuds and e-readers. Board member Nicki Vander Meulen, who voted against the policy, said the number of devices covered could create challenges for school staff.

“When 2,000 students at once have to turn in things, I think it would be problematic,” Vander Meulen said at the June 22 meeting.

Board member Maia Pearson also opposed the policy, noting she was concerned about having a “blanket” policy and how the district would support larger schools that might struggle to enforce technology rules in the hallway.

Blair Mosner Feltham, school board vice president and a teacher herself in the Sun Prairie School District, said she plans to push for the board to revisit the policy in a year to reassess its effectiveness. With the newest amendments — banning devices during passing periods and implementing a supportive student device management plan — she said she feels confident that school teams can implement the policy.

“I believe that to make this successful, it will be a partnership between students, families and staff.”