Law / United States / 
Rhode Island
Personal electronic devices in public schools: no search of the contents of a device the school retains during the school day
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding government bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Governance
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- If you are a public school official, employee or agent of a public school, do not search the contents of a personal electronic device that the school retains during school hours and that is not in the student's possession in a locked pouch or container (section 16-21-43(d)).
- If you are a public school, keep a policy on students' use of personal electronic devices on school grounds and during school-sponsored activities that prohibits students' physical access to a personal electronic device during the school day, notify parents or guardians of it, and file it with the department of elementary and secondary education if you are a school district or charter school (section 16-21-43(a)(1) and (f)).
- If you are a school district, make exceptions to the device policy for access to assistive technology necessary under a student's 504 plan or individualized education plan, for medical needs such as glucose monitoring and for a plan supporting an emergent multilingual learner, write each allowable exception into the student's plan, do not segregate a student given an exception, and make exceptions in an emergency (section 16-21-43(a)(2) and (3)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
What record it asks for
Logging duty
Section 16-21-43(d) bars a search of a retained device's contents, and subsection (f) requires a district or charter school to file its policy with the department. Neither sets a log, a record kept, a period, or access for a regulator, so no logging duty is coded.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Section 16-21-43(d) of the Rhode Island General Laws bars a school official, employee or agent of the school from searching the contents of a personal electronic device that the school retains during school hours and that is not in the student's possession in a locked pouch or container.
Section 16-21-43(b) of the Rhode Island General Laws defines a personal electronic device as a smartphone, mobile phone, tablet, computer, smartwatch, or other electronic device not owned or provided to a student by a public school that is capable of communication through the internet or a wireless network.
Section 16-21-43(a)(1) of the Rhode Island General Laws requires each public school to have a policy regarding the use of personal electronic devices on school grounds and during school-sponsored activities, to notify the parents or guardians of all students attending the school of the policy, and to include in it a prohibition on physical access to a personal electronic device by students during the school day.
Section 16-21-43(f) of the Rhode Island General Laws requires each school district and charter school to file its school personal electronic device use policy with the department of elementary and secondary education. Section 16-21-43 of the Rhode Island General Laws takes effect on under Public Law 2025, chapters 109 and 110. Public Law 2025, chapter 109 (H 5598 Substitute A), which added section 16-21-43, was enacted on .
Section 16-21-43(a)(2) and (3) of the Rhode Island General Laws require the district to make exceptions for student personal device use that provide access to assistive technology necessary to comply with individualized student 504 plans or individualized education plans, for medical needs such as glucose monitoring, and for a plan to support emergent multilingual learners, to write the allowable exceptions into the student's plan, not to segregate students provided an exception, and to make exceptions in the event of an emergency.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app serves K-12 schools.
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