Safety considerations have been added to the Virginia Department of Education's (VDOE) newly-released final guidance on cell phone-free education.

On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Education released its final cell phone-free guidance. The policy comes after Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order asking the VDOE to create guidelines for cell phone-free schools.

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) defines cell-phone-free education in Virginia as “bell-to-bell,” meaning cell phones should be turned off and stored away from the first bell at the start of the school day until the dismissal bell.