FAIRFAX, Va. — A bipartisan duo of senators is looking to back the efforts a growing number of states around the country are taking to ban or limit students’ use of cellphones in classrooms.
A recent Associated Press study found that nine states have already implemented statewide restrictions related to cellphones in schools, while another 39 are exploring them. That’s caught the attention of Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., who have proposed a bill to provide federal funding to incentivize classroom cellphone restrictions.
“It’s an issue where we can come together and try to empower parents and school districts to make the right choices for their kids and their students,” Cotton said.
The legislation would provide up to $5 million to school districts nationwide to study and develop pilot programs to lay the groundwork for long-term cellphone bans.
“I think all the districts are grappling with two big challenges: maximizing student learning, maximizing student mental health. And we think excessive cellphone usage gets in the way of both,” Kaine said.
Kaine’s home state of Virginia was one of the first in the nation to implement a cellphone ban in schools. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order last year instructing schools to comply with Virginia Education Department guidance for cellphone use in schools. The policy allows high schoolers to be on their phones between periods and in lunch, but not instructional periods. Middle schoolers have no access to their phones throughout the school day.
In Fairfax, Robinson Secondary School has close to 4,000 middle school and high school students on campus. The high school students place their phones in caddies in the front of a classroom before the period starts and can retrieve them when the period ends. Middle schoolers put their phones into a magnetic triggered pouch at the start of the school day that they keep with them. They can unlock the pouches to get access to their phones as they leave for the day.
“The kids are on board, the community is on board, and we’ve had a lot of success,” said Tracey Phillips, the principal at Robinson Secondary School who’s responsible for implementing the program.
The goal in the Fairfax district is not to just ban phones, but also to help students there develop healthy habits with the devices while working to make sure they do not interrupt the learning process.
“I think we’re going to have to find out a way to balance the use of using cellphones as a tool in school and for use for the students’ needs, but also making sure that we protect instructional time,” said Nardos King, the chief equity officer for Fairfax County Public Schools who is overseeing the cellphone policy for schools across the district.
Administrators and teachers are discovering that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to cellphone policies. Kaine and Cotton made clear that they are not looking for the federal government to dictate the policy from Washington.
“Little Rock is going to be different from Fairfax,” Kaine said. “So let the local officials who are responsive to the voters in the town try to figure out what that right balance is.”
Kaine and Cotton’s bill has yet to receive consideration in the Senate. They are hoping that with the bipartisan support it already has, the legislation could be tacked on to a broader bill that would expedite its passage through the House and the Senate.
