Smart Devices

In response to problems with inappropriate contact, a new law in Kentucky requires school districts to designate a traceable communications tool as the exclusive means by which employees may reach out to students.

One year after implementing phone restrictions, a Washington state school district has seen improvements in attendance and discipline. Teachers have seen higher engagement, while student reactions are divided.

The Johnston County school board has prohibited both teachers and students from using their cellphones during class. This drew a backlash from some teachers, while a board member said principals asked for such a policy.

In separate interviews, representatives from the Massachusetts Coalition for Phone Free Schools and the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools discuss their views on competing ideas behind phone restrictions.

An impending report from the Governor’s Advisory Council for Student Safety and Well-Being will include guidance on how schools can implement student phone policies, as well as examples of legitimate exemptions.

A venture fund within Tulane University's Innovation Institute will lead a $1 million funding round for a New Orleans-based company Hilight, whose online tool proposes to save schools up to $25,000 to replace lost staff.

Sixty-three percent of teachers say that the amount of time students spend on their cellphones has a very negative impact on their learning, compared with just 2 percent of middle and high schoolers who agree.

A movement that started at Harvard University aims to help students wean themselves off smartphones incrementally, recommending that they delete their social media accounts one by one.

Effective July 2026, elementary and middle school students in Georgia will not be allowed to have personal communication devices from the first bell to the last, with exceptions for students with IEPs or medical plans.

While many educators and parents have supported and attested to the efficacy of keeping smartphones out of schools, some educational organizations are warning Maine lawmakers not to overreach.

A bill heading to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk will require school districts to draft their own policies enacting a total cellphone ban for students during the school day, starting in the fall.

District leaders say the pandemic-era practice of giving a Chromebook to each of the district's 160,000 students is too expensive to sustain, and they need to reallocate money being spent on them for HVAC upgrades.

K-12 students will have to store any wireless communication devices in their cars or lockers during the school day. Gov. Kay Ivey is expected to sign the bill, as she said in February that she supported it.

Screen time leads to less retention and more multitasking than focus, so maybe schools should evaluate how a reliance upon digital devices has contributed to plummeting student test scores, engagement and mental health.

The new state budget would set aside $13.5 million to make New York the largest state in the country to not allow public school students to use cellphones during the school day.

Two statewide proposals, one in the House and one in the Senate, offer competing ideas for how to limit phone use in K-12. One would leave it to school boards to decide specifics, and the other stipulates more specifics.

Iowa City Community School District is maintaining its 1:1 student device program, but grades K-5 will keep theirs at school after parents expressed concerns about excessive screen time for young students.

A school board in North Carolina is debating whether the district should accept responsibility when a student's confiscated cellphone is stolen, lost or damaged.