State board sees no easy answers on cellphones in classrooms

Students are allowed to use their cell phones during one lunch a week at Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Md.

Students are allowed to use their cell phones during one lunch a week at Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Md. Washington Post photo by Michael Robinson Chavez

By SAM DRYSDALE

State House News Service

Published: 01-30-2025 3:59 PM

BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Campbell wants to stop students from using cellphones in schools, but education regulators seem unsure how far they should go — especially when that power lies not in the state’s hands, but with local school districts.

Campbell released a “Cell Phones and Social Media in Schools Toolkit” last week to give school districts help regulating student phone use in the classroom.

She also filed a bill with Sen. Julian Cyr and Reps. Alice Peisch and Kate Lipper-Garabedian (SD 654 / HD 3070) seeking to implement “bell-to-bell” restrictions on cellphones and other personal electronic devices during school hours, according to her office.

The toolkit cites a Pew Research Center study that concluded 72% of high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in the classroom.

The AG’s guidance outlines three possible plans for schools to implement: a “bell-to-bell” restriction (phones stored or locked away when students arrive and are not physically accessible until the end of the day); “off and away” (phones are turned off and stored out of sight in backpacks, lockers, or a designated area of the classroom all day); or “limited use” (phones allowed during designated times, like lunch.)

Interim Education Commissioner Russell Johnston said at a Tuesday Board of Education meeting that he appreciates what the AG’s office is “attempting to do” with the toolkit.

“I think it’s important that we don’t think about this just about what it’s taking away, but what it’s actually providing for our students,” he said. “I think of a cellphone-free classroom as being one where our students have the opportunity to focus on learning in a less distracted manner.”

He later added, “It’s really about fostering that deep in-person connection, which is what the classroom is about, between our students and their teachers. And we’ve heard from our educators who’ve said, ‘Please help us with this,’ and I’m glad that the attorney general has done so.”

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Johnston maintained several times over the course of the meeting, however, that it would be important to give deference to local authority on this subject, and emphasized that the AG’s toolkit is just guidance.

“I think it’s so important that we support our local decision-making around how to approach this issue, because we know that parents have concerns about safety. ‘How will my child reach me in an emergency?’ And so that really needs to be a local discussion about, how are we balancing lessening the distraction of cellphones but also keeping our students safe?” Johnston said.

A “Frequently Asked Questions” section of the toolkit includes the questions “How can I reach my student during the day?”, “How can my student reach me during the school day?” and “What if there is a lockdown or other emergency in the building?”

To the first two questions, the guidance recommends families use the phone at the school’s front office if they need to get in touch.

“If you need to reach your student during the school day, please contact the school’s front office and school staff will ensure your message is delivered,” it says. “Please keep in mind that receiving messages during school can be distracting and, in some cases, cause anxiety for students. Whenever possible, we suggest arranging after-school plans outside of school hours and waiting to speak to your student in person to share other important information.”

If a student wants to contact their parent, they can use the school’s phone as well, per the toolkit’s guidance.

If there’s an emergency, the attorney general says schools will communicate with families through “official channels.”

“While it may seem helpful for students to use cellphones during a crisis, research shows that it actually creates more risks by distracting students from safety instructions, spreading misinformation, and disrupting emergency response efforts,” it adds.

Some members of the board raised concerns.

“This is striking me as an overall goal for the right reason, with so many legitimate exceptions,” said Vice Chair Matt Hills of the restrictions on cellphone use in schools. “I’m not even sure how you’re going to, how we’re going to provide serious guidance that we feel good about, other than the very big picture.”

The conversation about the cellphones came on the heels of another discussion about providing districts with guidance if immigration agents come into schools to detain undocumented students, due to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push.

Hills continued, “Given immigration issues, someone may want to have a phone. There may be all sorts of anxiety throughout the day that is dealt with through contact between a student and a parent. Don’t want to take a phone away for that.”

Member Dálida Rocha agreed with Hills.

“In this moment where immigrant children are feeling unsafe, and if they want to keep their phone with them in case of ICE, or if they feel threatened, and then that disciplinary action can also lead them to this school-to-deportation pipeline — I just want to bring that to attention,” she said.

Johnston agreed, and again called on districts to create a policy that works for their specific student population.

“The toolkit, it’s asking for local decision-making to really understand the local context,” he said.

Members also brought up students who could have medical issues that could require them to have cellphones in schools.

“We have students with diabetes whose ongoing insulin levels are monitored by their cellphones or reported on by their cellphones,” Johnston said.

Board member Ericka Fisher said she was worried about students’ privacy, if some were allowed to have phones and not others.

“By making those exceptions for students who need them for medical reasons, then we are outing them and violating their privacy by basically saying, ‘Now you have a phone so you must have a medical issue.’ So I think that’s a topic that schools need to be aware of,” Fischer said.

Johnston responded by again saying that districts would determine the best policy for their own student body.

“The final thing I’ll say about it is that the schools where the policy is consistent across the whole building allows for the teachers not to get into power struggles with the students, and allows for education to be what we want it to be,” he said. “So there’s a range of options, it’s not just a one size fits all.”