In years past, Alexander, the school’s principal, mostly saw the tops of students’ heads as they walked the hallways, eyes locked on their cell phones. But for the most part, that isn’t the case anymore.
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD was one of several North Texas school districts that adopted new policies last summer barring students from using cell phones at school. Now that those policies have been in place for a semester, school leaders and parents say they’re helping limit distractions in class, which keeps students more engaged.
But a student in Keller ISD, which also adopted a cell phone ban last summer, told the Star-Telegram that students at her school quickly figured out ways to get around the new rules.
Tarrant County districts adopt cell phone restrictions
Weeks before the beginning of the current school year, school boards in the Keller, Grapevine-Colleyville, Hurst-Euless-Bedford and Northwest independent school districts adopted policies barring students from using cell phones at school. Other North Texas school districts, including Richardson and Mansfield, put similar policies into place last year.
Details of the new policies differ from one district to the next, and in some cases within districts. Some schools require students to put phones away during class, but allow them to use them during lunch and between classes. Others bar students from using phones for the entire school day. Most policies allow students to keep their phones with them, but require them to keep them turned off and put away in a backpack or purse. But some districts, including Richardson ISD, require students to put their phones in special locked pouches at the beginning of the school day, and pick them up before they go home in the afternoon.
Recent polling data shows that most Americans support school cell phone bans during class time, but fewer approve of all-day bans. According to a report released by the Pew Research Center in October, 68% of adults said they supported rules barring middle and high school students from using their phones in class. But only about a third said they would support rules barring students from using cell phones for the entire school day, including at lunch and during passing periods. By contrast, 53% said they would oppose the more restrictive rules. Notably, support for the policies was comparable among adults with and without school-aged children.
In Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, students are required to keep phones turned off and put away during class. Middle school students are allowed to use phones at lunch, and high schoolers may use them at lunch and between classes.
Kalee McMullen, the district’s executive director of instructional leadership, said the different rules at each grade level come out of an acknowledgment that older students may have a greater need to coordinate pickup schedules and extracurricular activities with parents. Some high school students have jobs and take classes on multiple campuses, she said, meaning they have an even greater need to stay in touch with their parents or work supervisors throughout the day.
Alexander, the middle school principal, said she and other school leaders were surprised at the level of cooperation they got from students when the policy went into effect at the beginning of the school year.
She thinks a big part of that came from clear communication. School leaders outlined the policy for parents at an open house before the start of the school year. Teachers explained the new rules in every class on the first day of school. And the school held a grade-level pep rally to go over the new rules again, and give students a deeper explanation of the reasoning behind the new policy.
“The heart of it is, ‘We want you to do great things, and we want you to get the most out of your time at school,’” she said.
That isn’t to say that students never use cell phones when they aren’t supposed to, Alexander said. Not every middle schooler follows every rule at all times. But the fact that the new policy is the product of collaboration among the school board, the district administration and teachers means the new rules have more credibility and makes them easier to enforce, she said.
Keller ISD phone policy gives detention to violators
Keller ISD’s policy requires students at all grade levels to turn cell phones off and keep them in a bag, purse or backpack for the entire school day, including at lunch and between classes. The policy also applies to other personal electronic devices like smart watches and tablets.
Students who are caught using cell phones receive detention for their first and second offenses, and punishments get stiffer for multiple offenses. In every case, teachers or campus administrators are required to contact the student’s parents and confiscate the phones and hold them in the office until the end of the day.
Bryce Nieman, a spokesman for Keller ISD, said the district had seen a drop in phone-related office referrals as the first semester progressed. Teachers and campus leaders have also noticed more interaction between students during lunch and between classes, he said.
A student at Keller ISD’s Central High School said before the ban went into effect, the rules for cell phone use seemed to depend on the class. Some teachers enforced a strict no-phones rule in their classrooms, while others were more lenient. Students using cell phones in class were often checking social media or doing other things unrelated to what they were supposed to be doing in class, she said. But that wasn’t always the case, she said — many students also pulled out their phones to look up information related to assignments they were working on.
The student, who asked not to be identified out of concern over repercussions at school, said students quickly figured out ways to get around the ban. Often she sees students using their phones behind computer screens or somewhere else out of sight of their teacher, she said. When teachers do spot students with a phone out, most give one or two verbal warnings before confiscating the phone and giving the student a detention, she said.
The student said she thinks the cell phone ban was a good idea in principle. Before the rule, some students used their phones in class excessively, she said, and sometimes it interfered with what the class was doing. But she thinks the rules are stricter than they need to be. Requiring teenagers to be off their phones for a solid eight hours every day is a lot to ask, she said. If the district allowed them to check their phones between classes and at lunch, it might reduce the temptation to use them at other times, and it wouldn’t interfere with class, she said.
Keller ISD mom: ‘It’s been a good change’
Laney Hawes, mother of four students in Keller ISD, said she wishes the policy required students to keep their phones in a bag or backpack, but allowed them to keep them turned on. She worries about the prospect of not being able to reach her kids if there’s a shooting or some other incident at their school. During the 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a 10-year-old student used her cell phone to notify police that a gunman was in the building. And during last year’s shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, some students used cell phones to let their parents know what was happening.
“I wish we didn’t live in a society where I need to have access to my children in case there is something horrific that happens at school,” Hawes said. “But we do.”
But Hawes, a frequent critic of Keller ISD’s school board, said she thinks the policy has been a good idea overall. Without the constant disruption of cell phones, her kids are getting more instruction, she said. The fact that they can’t automatically reach for their phones when they get bored or when they have free time also keeps them more engaged, she said.
Some parents were initially concerned about not being able to contact their kids for the entire school day, Hawes said. But students can still use school-issued devices during the day, so parents can still email them if they need to get in touch about after-school pickup plans or something the student left at home by mistake, she said.
Even before the new policy went into effect, Hawes said her kids’ schools had policies saying that students weren’t allowed to use cell phones during class. But the burden of enforcing that policy seemed to fall mostly on teachers, she said, meaning teachers had to use instructional time dealing with cell phones.
Now, Hawes said, the district seems to be enforcing the rules more rigorously. Administrators step into classrooms periodically to do spot checks for cell phones. And school officials have clearly communicated to students and parents that if students are caught using cell phones when they aren’t supposed to, there are automatic consequences, she said. The problem isn’t completely gone, she said — her kids tell her that teachers and campus administrators confiscate cell phones every day — but the fact that there are clear rules and consistent consequences seems to make it less of a constant battle.
“I think it’s been universally appreciated, to be honest with you, which is a rare thing these days,” Hawes said. “So in that sense, it’s been a good change.”
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