Vancouver School Board members voted Monday to forward a motion to restrict cell phones in schools to the Education Committee.

In January, the province announced it was taking action to restrict cell phones in all British Columbia schools and said it would work with school districts to ensure they have updated policies in place for the start of the new school year.

The motion, introduced in Vancouver by school board chair Victoria Jung, calls for the superintendent to align the district’s code of conduct for its 110 schools with those of the province.

“The Vancouver School Board has a responsibility to provide a healthy and safe learning environment for students and teachers,” Jung said in a statement.

“(This) motion is about taking the next step in supporting digital wellbeing.”

It also calls on the superintendent to establish a working group to study and review the new rules and their impact in the next school year.

However, trustees said at Monday night’s meeting that the application required further review and voted 5-4 to refer it to the VSB’s Education Plan Committee. The next Education Plan Committee meeting is scheduled for May 15.

The school board’s proposal states that digital reading skills are important, but they also bring challenges.

“Excessive use of electronic devices, particularly cell phones, among our younger students is associated with distractions, setbacks in social development, and impaired academic performance,” the motion states.

It sets a deadline for an updated code of conduct with new guidelines on personal digital device use by July 1, 2024.

Quebec passed similar bans in 2023 and Ontario in 2019.

Victoria Jung and Christopher Richardson of the Vancouver School Board are pictured in March of this year. Jung, chair of the Vancouver School Board, introduced a motion Monday to investigate the use of cell phones in the district’s schools. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Jung told CBC News that a district-wide cell phone policy would help school administrators and teachers.

“Our job is to keep children safe. … It’s not just about physical safety, like stopping children from fighting at recess. It’s about considering all the different aspects of their learning and development, and that includes social media and access to digital devices,” Jung said.

She said the request gives the district enough flexibility to implement all proposed changes regarding cellphone use in schools by the start of the next school year in September.

She said she was entering the consultation process with an open mind and announced that concessions would be made regarding mobile phone use for health and justice reasons.

The province’s announcement in January was also tied to government measures aimed at protecting youth and children from online harm, including a process to remove images from the internet and prosecute online predators, as well as new laws to hold social media companies accountable for any harm they may have caused.

Last week, the province said it was putting its draft protection from online harms bill on hold after reaching an agreement with some of the largest social media platforms to improve online safety.