Will the Honourable Minister please confirm what will be the consequences for
students or teachers who violate the electronic ban, and will there be a standardized
enforcement protocol across all public schools to ensure consistency and
fairness?
Student Consequences
Students who choose to violate the policy are subject to consequences that are guided by
the progressive discipline outlined in the Code’s framework and restorative practices,
ensuring students learn from mistakes, repair harm, and remain connected to their school
community.
Essential factors in the implementation of progressive discipline include helping students:
● understand why the behaviour is unacceptable and the harm it has caused;
● understand what they could have done differently in the same situation;
● take responsibility for their actions;
● to be given the opportunity to learn behaviour strategies and skills to use in the
future;
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● understand the progression of more stringent consequences if the behaviour
reoccurs; and
● take measures to repair the harm the behaviour may have caused.
Progressive consequences for violating the policy include typical responses such as
parent notification, detention and confiscation.
Consequences for Teachers
School staff are expected to uphold the Personal Electronic Devices Policy as part of their
professional responsibilities. Should there be an occasion where a staff member fails to
enforce the policy, the matter will be addressed in accordance with the Department of
Education’s Policy and Procedures Manual and the provisions of the Bermuda Union of
Teachers’ Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Standardized Enforcement
The Personal Electronic Devices Policy is embedded within the Bermuda Public School
System’s 2025 Code of Conduct and therefore applies uniformly across all public schools.
No school may opt out or create its own variation of the policy.
Principals and school staff are required to enforce the policy fairly, consistently, and
equitably, ensuring that all students are held to the same standards of accountability.
Enforcement is guided by the framework of progressive discipline, which provides four
graduated levels of response, and is complemented by the use of restorative practices to
help students learn from mistakes and repair harm.
What is standardized across the system is the policy itself, the progressive discipline
framework, and the restorative approach that underpins it. In short, standardization means
one Code for all public schools, one progressive discipline framework, and one restorative
foundation as part of enforcement.
Senator, The Hon. Crystal Caesar, JP
Minister of Education
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