Gilboa-Conesville CSD

Education Law § 2803 -

Use of Internet Enabled Devices During The School Day

As part of the 2025-2026 New York State Budget, New York State passed legislation to restrict student use of internet enabled “smart” devices in all schools in the state during school hours.

The new statute, Education Law § 2803, requires “each school district, charter school, and board of cooperative educational services” to adopt a written policy prohibiting the use of internet-enabled devices by students during the school day anywhere on school grounds.

In the statute, “internet-enabled devices” includes “any smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, or other device capable of connecting to the internet and enabling the user to access content on the internet, including social media applications.” The term “school day” is defined as “every instructional day … during all instructional time and non-instructional time, including, but not limited to homeroom periods, lunch, recess, study halls, and passing time.” School grounds is defined to include any building or land “within the real property boundary line” of the school.

In June the Gilboa-Conesville Central School District, sent surveys to our faculty/staff, students and parents. The GCCS Shared-Decision Making Team worked with the school community responses to propose the internet-enabled devices policy/procedures to the BOE for approval on July 2, 2025.

Please click the links below to access the GCCS School internet enabled devices policy and procedures documents.
Policy 7316 - Use of internet enabled devices during the school day

GCCS internet enabled procedures