CLAY COUNTY – New rules passed by the Florida Legislature made schools a cellphone-free zone this year. Also, students can no longer wear pants with holes and rips above mid-thigh.

The rules require students to learn social media safety, which includes the ban of TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter and other social media platforms on school-provided devices. The Florida House of Representatives voted unanimously to approve the social media guidelines, and it went into effect on July 1.

House Bill 379 states: “A student may not use a wireless communications device during instructional time. A teacher shall designate an area for wireless communication devices during instructional time.”

Superintendent David Broskie said the Clay County District Schools will enforce the law, but it will issue a warning on the first offense.

“The student gets a warning, and their parent is contacted on the first offense for cell phone for certain cell phone issues,” he said. “And then it goes from there. You know, it’s kind of like a phased-in approach, OK? Some schools, by the way, were already doing that last year. That policy was already in place because they recognized that, perhaps, cellphones cause a distraction.”

Students can bring phones to school but only send and receive text messages between classes.

And during class, cellphones must be silenced and out of sight.

According to the policy, the first violation will result in a warning and a call to a parent or guardian. A second violation will be punished with one afternoon of detention; a third violation will earn two days of afternoon detention; a fourth violation will result in two days of in-school suspension, a fifth violation will lead to five days of in-school suspension; and, a sixth violation will result in one-to-three days of out of school detention.

There also are new dress code rules.

No apparel with off-color remarks or pictures is allowed, along with drug, alcohol or tobacco-related slogans or violent imagery.

Also banned are spandex shorts, tank tops, halter tops, tube tops, crop tops, spaghetti straps, mesh and see-through shirts, muscle shirts, chains hanging from clothing, bedroom slippers and jeans or pants with holes above mid-thigh.

Finally, students in grades seven-through-12 must have a signed permission slip to check out books in school libraries. Each student is required to have their own form, which is available at docs.google.con/…/1Snwx/mobilebasic.