Virginia's student phone ban starts as Richmond-area schools reopen
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The Richmond area heads back to school this week, and parents and students are facing new statewide rules and some local changes.
The big picture: The most talked about is the Virginia law banning student phone use from "bell to bell," including during lunch.
- Most Richmond-area schools already began enforcing those rules earlier this year, though Henrico previously allowed students to use phones in between classes.
Stunning stat: Hanover, the first district in the Richmond area to pass a districtwide cell phone ban last year, confiscated over 1,600 student phones in the 2024-25 school year.
Zoom in: You might also see ads for bus driver recruitment on school buses after a new state law gave school boards the OK to use them to help hire more drivers.
- And extreme heat safety protections for student athletes are now standardized to prevent heat-related illnesses.
As for the local changes:
Richmond
RPS has staggered start dates this year, similarly to Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover.
- Monday: Preschool, kindergarten and grades 1-5.
- Tuesday: Grades 6-9
- Wednesday: Grades 7, 8, and 10-12.
Chesterfield
Automated speed cameras go live in some school zones, meaning you'll be ticketed if you drive more than 10mph over the speed limit.
- Elementaries: Beulah, Marguerite Christian, Ecoff, Grange Hall, Moseley, Old Hundred, Reams Road, Swift Creek.
- High schools: Cosby, Midlothian
All of its middle and high schools will have weapons scanners.
Hanover
- Elementary school recess is extended from 30 to 40 minutes starting this year.
- Next year, over 1,200 students will attend different schools due to new redistricting maps that the county school board approved in May.
Henrico
- School meal prices are going up to $1.75 for breakfast and $3 for lunch.
- Students still need to bring their Smart Student ID cards, a safety measure that started last year, to school every day. They'll get new ones on the first day.
What we're watching: Next year, the SOLs will make up 10% of all Virginia students' final grade, use a 100-point scale instead of 600 and be given in the last two weeks of the school year.