Starting Monday, no phones will be allowed during the entire school day for all elementary and middle school students. For high schoolers, the policy is less strict — they won’t have phones in class but will be allowed to have phones during passing periods and at lunch. Exceptions to the policy will be honored for students who require access to devices for medical needs. The policy doesn’t apply to smartwatches.
Current cellphone policies are a patchwork, with each school setting its own rules. This is the first time Seattle Public Schools has officially had a districtwide policy.
In November, the district’s interim superintendent, Fred Podesta, introduced a similar policy, but district officials planned to continue evaluating it. The district has now reviewed cellphone practices across all grade levels, analyzed policies from other districts both in Washington and across the country, observed five pilot schools to identify what has worked and listened to students, families, teachers, school leaders, board directors and an informational technology advisory committee.
“This district needs a cellphone policy, no doubt about it,” Shuldiner said at a special meeting Wednesday evening. “We believe that cellphones are addictive, cellphones are things that are distracting and are things that can take away from the instruction of our children.”
Washington doesn’t have a statewide cellphone ban in schools, leaving it in the minority and notably “behind” other states, as state Superintendent Chris Reykdal has said. Twenty-eight states have legislation banning cellphones for the entire school day, according to Education Week.
The Legislature did pass Senate Bill 5346, which tasks the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction with creating model policies and providing research on student use of cellphones, but it doesn’t require any outright restrictions.
OSPI surveyed school districts before the start of the 2025-26 school year and found 53 percent of districts restrict phones during instructional time only, while 31% have policies that require phones to be away for the entire school day.
Some Seattle parents and at least one School Board member emailed the superintendent before the presentation with concerns that the policy isn’t strict enough. Some disagreed with the district’s finding that, at the high school level, limited access during lunch and passing period helps support student independence and aligns with the district’s open campus policy.
In response, Shuldiner said a strict ban at the high school level wouldn’t be enforceable. Almost all SPS high schools have open campuses for lunch. He added that it could also create a weird dynamic where students who have clubs at lunch would be tempted to leave campus and not go to their club meetings, so they could be on their phones.
Emily Cherkin, an educator and SPS parent, noted that the presentation cites a study that says it takes 20 minutes for students to refocus after the distraction of using a phone. She asked: “How, if passing periods are five minutes long, will that additional 15 minutes to refocus in class not negatively impact both teaching and learning?”
The district is calling the high school policy, “No cell, bell to bell,” which parents said is confusing. Often, a “bell-to-bell” ban means that no cellphones are allowed at any point during the school day — but the SPS policy allows cellphones during passing periods and lunch.
Outside of Seattle, Shuldiner acknowledged at the Wednesday meeting, “bell to bell” does mean the full school day, but in Seattle, like at Cleveland STEM High School, it means the bells that start and end each class period.
Parents also pointed out that allowing phones to be used during passing periods and lunch leaves the burden on teachers to police phone use when students walk into class.
“Overall my concern is that this proposal is simply a continuation of the status quo, which places the onus on teachers to ensure that students comply,” wrote District 3 Director Evan Briggs. “To ‘allow school leaders flexibility with practical tools/routines’ feels a bit like passing the buck.”
Shuldiner met with all principals a few weeks ago to update them on the new policy.
“My sense was they’ve been waiting for this for years,” Shuldiner said.
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