A new cell phone policy for school students in Wood County seems to be working.

"It's still early this year, but we've had no suspensions because of the policy," Wood County Director of Secondary Schools Mike Boyd tells MetroNews.  "We may have had some suspensions because kids refused to give a cell phone up, which is insubordination."

The new policy took effect with the start of the school year.

As part of it, students are allowed to have their cell phones with them during the school day.  However, those phones are not allowed to be used in class.

Those caught for the first time, using their phones in class, must turn over their phones.  Parents are then required to pick up those phones at the school.  "Before, it was not done that way.  That has helped a lot because the parents are more involved with it from the beginning," Boyd says.

The second time a student is caught using a phone in class, the phone is taken again and there is some kind of in school discipline.  Those same penalties increase the third time.  Those caught a fourth time are suspended from school.

So far, Boyd says no students have gotten to that point, that fourth level violation.

"We still have some but, I think, the big difference is, since we've put in some layers before we get to suspension, other disciplines, that has helped a lot."

School officials had sought those additional steps before suspension as part of revisions to the original policy that first took effect two years ago.  The goal is to minimize the classroom disruptions the phones cause.

Some had argued for a policy that required phones to be completely kept out of classrooms.