By Moran Steinbach — For the 2012-2013 school year, administrators have implemented a new policy about electronics at school.

“We decided to implement this policy because technology is a growing trend. We already have multiple iPad’s throughout the district used in classes. Ultimately, Plain Local is usually first in big decisions like this,” network engineer Jason Patterson said.

The rule is named  B.Y.O.D., short for “bring your own device”. Students are able to use electronic devices within classrooms under the individual teacher’s discretion.

The student handbook for this year specifies the acceptable devices as “non-disruptive devices”. Some of those devices include e-readers, laptops, tablets, audio players and/or mp3 players. With the student’s username and password  one is able to access the Plain Local wireless internet, with their electronic. By being under the Plain wi-fi, popularly visited sites such as Facebook and Twitter are blocked along with anything else that’s uneducational.

Also allowed by the Plain Local administrative team are mobile phone’s in the classroom. Though they are not to be used for voice or text communication, smart phones are able to use the internet for educational purposes or when told to do so by school personnel.

“The hardest part about the policy is the enforcement of the rules. Devices should be used for school only, not communication or social networking,” Patterson said.

Some instances that the B.Y.O.D. policy would be used is when students are able to listen to music during study hall, or if a teacher instructs their class to use dictionary.com to find definitions, among other situations.

According the student handbook if students are caught taking advantage of the new device rule, severe consequences could occur. First, one may be assigned detention, S.A.S. or out of school suspension. Another possibility may be a teacher or administrator taking an electronic until the parents of the student can redeem it from their academy office.

[Updated Aug. 7, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]