Delaware
Delaware schools to pilot cell phone pouches with new state funding
Southern Delaware high schools craft their own phone policies
With schools vary in their cultures and teaching approaches, schools in southern Delaware have approached phone policies differently particularly at the high school level where students are more mature and responsible for their decisions.
Brandywine High School and the Smyrna School District are among the latest schools to implement cell phone policies for the upcoming school year separate from the legislative pilot project.
At Sussex Central High School, there is no school-wide policy on phones, but a few classrooms have implemented their own rules.
“The teachers at my school, we have the autonomy to create our own cell phone policies,” said Jeff Gartman, who teaches media and technology. “The administration gives us that freedom to make our own decisions and they trust us to do what’s best for our classroom.”
A number of teachers at Sussex Central use phones as a tool to foster discussions or facilitate research among students. Yet, after 20 years of teaching, Gartman recognized the devices can also pose a distraction that needs to be addressed in his classroom.
“It piles up to lost time, lost engagement and getting kids being less productive and the whole environment being less effective,” he said. “Personally, I have been struggling with this for years, trying different ways of managing it and I was just not successful with really fighting off the distraction that the phones are to students when they have them in their possession.”
What works for him and other teachers in his building is eliminating cell phone access, a policy he started last spring. This decision prompted him to purchase a hanging storage organizer with little pouches. Each pouch is assigned to a student with their name for every period throughout the day.
“Students come into my room and there’s a pouch hanging on the wall with a bunch of individual pouches. They’ve got their name on one of them. They come in, they put the phone in there,” he described. “I’ve even got it rigged up so they can charge their phone while they are in class, about two minutes before the bell rings at the end of class I allow them to come get it.”
After two months of implementing the policy, despite initial concerns, he now feels accomplished and pleased with the positive feedback from parents and students. He has noticed a noticeable improvement in his students and the overall classroom environment.
“For the most part taking the distraction away just added to the whole environment and kids were more productive, less distracted, and got more done,” said Gartman.
State Sen. Paradee says the phone pouches test pilot may not be ready in time for this school year since the state Department of Education is just drafting its regulation. He says the goal is to have the funds available for schools by the middle of the school year.
He encourages parents, guardians and caregivers to give the test pilot a chance. “My message to all the parents, grandparents, caregivers: hang in there, give it a shot and we’ll work through this.”
Storms hit Saturday shortly before 3 p.m. in Delaware County with limbs down on lines, wires down, plus lightning strikes, and quickly nearly 8,000 PECO customers were without power.
There was an accompanying deluge as well in parts of the county, with many low-lying areas flooding. The power outage number continued rising to 10,365 by 3:10 p.m., and to over 13,000 by 3:30. By 4 p.m. that number began to decline.
The first lightning strike dispatch was to a house in the 100 block of Edgewood Avenue in Haverford Township, and crews were dispatched minutes later to the Five Guys on Town Centre Drive in Concord Township.
Crews arriving on both scenes reported nothing was evident, but they would investigate further, according to radio traffic.
Fire stations were also sent to a water rescue in the 2800 block of East County Line Road in Haverford. Police arrived first and reported that half the vehicle was underwater. The officer soon located the driver, who had gotten out and made it to safety, according to radio traffic.
Police, fire and ambulance dispatches continued rapid fire at 3:30 p.m. PECO was asked to respond to numerous locations. Numerous alarm calls were also received at the county communications center.
A National Weather Service-issued severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for eastern Delaware County until 3:30 p.m. There was also a flash flood warning for the same area until 6:45 p.m.
One rainfall measurement was available at 3 p.m. That was St. Davids, where 0.71 inch of rain was recorded in less than 45 minutes, eventual reaching eight-tenths of an inch.
The Philadelphia International Airport recorded 0.32 inch of rain.
Sunny skies were expected to dominate the weather for the workweek, with high temperatures rising into the 90s on Wednesday and likely to stay there at least through Friday.
Saturday, July 11, 2026 1:40PM
MEDIA, Pa. (WPVI) — There is new information about what is being called a “sophisticated cybercriminal attack” against Delaware County.
According to officials, hackers were able to gain limited access to the county’s network and some of the data stored on it.
They are working with cybersecurity experts to learn the extent.
The sheriff’s office, district attorney, libraries and county council have all been dealing with disruptions since the attack on June 26.
The county’s internal networks are now up and running, and work is still ongoing to reinstate external-facing county services.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
DOVER, Del. (WPVI) — Delaware State Police are investigating a controversial traffic stop making the rounds on social media.
The video shows a trooper forcing a woman out of her car, slamming her to the ground, punching and tasing her.
It happened on July 7, in Dover, Delaware.
But Delaware State Police say the video doesn’t tell the whole story. They released a statement to provide what they call necessary context and clarity.
State police say the woman, identified as 38-year-old Sierra Hopkins, was initially pulled over in the area of S. Bay Road and Lafferty Lane in Dover for having suspended tags, no car insurance, and no driver’s license.
She was issued citations and let go, but then stopped again minutes later by the same trooper on E. Lebanon Road, who decided to follow protocol and have her car towed.
State police say he did this because Hopkins had been cited for the same violations five days earlier.
Things quickly escalated during this stop, with police stating she refused to leave her car, resisting, kicking and scratching the trooper in the face.
It all happened while several juveniles were in the car.
“This is such a vulnerable and tender moment… I’m sure her children were present, which brings another cause of concern because that’s trauma,” said Fleur McKendell, President of Delaware NAACP State Conference.
McKendell says her organization is pushing for a full and thorough investigation.
“It’s really deeply concerning. It’s evoked a lot of strong emotions from myself, my organization, as well as the public. I think it’s important to understand the full context of the content we have viewed before reaching conclusions, so I’m very eager to review available video footage and the circumstances that preceded and occurred during that incident,” says McKendell.
Delaware Governor Matt Meyer is also weighing in on this confrontation.
He released the following statement to Action News:
“Every law-enforcement officer is entrusted with a duty to protect, to serve, and to uphold the dignity and rights of every person, in every community. Policing relies on trust. That trust is not automatic; it is earned every day through mutual respect, integrity and transparency. The people of Delaware deserve transparency, and this administration will not turn away from that responsibility.”
Hopkins was later charged with assault of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest; driving without a license, endangering the welfare of children and other registration violations.
State police did not mention the current status of the trooper.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
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