The state Department of Education will award grants to districts that adopt policies banning cellphones “bell-to-bell” — which means prohibiting use during the entire school day — for students in grades 6 through 12.
The new, "Phone-Free Schools Grant Program" was announced Oct. 1, two weeks after a New Jersey commission urged all schools to prohibit students from using cellphones and social media during the school day.
Districts selected for the grant program will get a minimum of $500. State officials did not say if there is a maximum amount. The size of the grants will depend on how many school districts apply.
School officials must agree to require that Internet-enabled phones and other devices to be stored upon arrival at school and returned at dismissal, education department officials said.
That is a stricter policy than many New Jersey schools currently enforce. Some schools ban cellphones in class, but allow devices to be used at lunch, at lockers or in school hallways.
Grant funds may be used to implement storage solutions to collect and secure student devices. Those could include locked pouch systems, lockers, bins and cabinets, along with related equipment and software to secure the phones.
The grant money can also be used for staff training on a district’s cellphone policy and storage procedures “to ensure consistent, equitable implementation across schools,” the education department said.
There is no New Jersey law governing cellphones in schools. Each school district adopts its own rules.
The grants will only go to school districts that adopt strict policies that require students to store their phones for the entire school day.
“Adoption of less stringent approaches, such as ‘Off and Away’ or ‘Limited Use’ policies, do not qualify for this program,” the state education department memo said.
State education officials did not say how many grants can be awarded or a maximum amount schools can receive. Oct. 31 is the application deadline for the grant.
The school board in Jersey City, the state’s second-largest city, recently enacted a policy requiring students to turn their devices off, or place them in airplane mode, while in class. But it is not a “bell-to-bell” that requires students to store their phones during the school day.
However, Ramsey High School is among the school districts telling students to put away their phones all day. In January, the Bergen County district began requiring students to store their devices in Yondr cellphone pouches during the school day.
Yondr is a San Francisco-based company best known for producing a lockable pouch for cellphones that keeps phones out of reach from students until the pouch is tapped on an unlocking base.
The new grants are rolling out amid a national focus on whether cellphones and other wireless communication devices are detracting from academic performance and worsening bullying and other problems.
The state Commission on the Effects of Social Media Usage in Adolescents issued a report last month endorsing “bell-to-bell” phone bans. The report outlined numerous harms to adolescents stemming from social media, including among students who access sites on their cellphones.
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