It's time to ban cellphones in school

The need is clear, and parents and education officials across New York have been begging: Help us keep our kids off their phones.

For years, cellphones have been making the difficult job of grabbing a kid’s attention even harder, especially in K-12 classrooms. 

Finally, help seems to be coming.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in January a plan to restrict use of "internet enabled devices" such as cellphones, tablets and smartwatches by students during the school day. The goal is laudable — boost student learning by keeping kids off these devices. Any such policy has to be approved by the State Legislature in the current session to take effect with the start of the next school year. 

Hochul's plan would compel school districts to store student cellphones and tell parents how they can reach their kids if needed during the instructional day. Kids wouldn’t be permitted to use their phones from bell to bell, including between classes or during lunch. Kids who need their cellphones for medical or educational purposes would be exempt. While some Long Island school districts already have policies in place, others are drafting them. It will be much easier for all districts to finalize plans and overcome local opposition if the state requires them to devise a cellphone strategy.

Hochul set aside $13.5 million for schools to buy pouches or cubbies to store kids’ phones. She proposes to let schools create and enact their own policies for storing smartphones during the school day, thus largely avoiding unfunded mandates and local-control issues. That's a wise move, and the governor should ensure the Legislature doesn't try to add on so many rules before the law is passed that local control is diminished or erased.

A WILD DISTRACTION

Hochul's initiative underscores a widely accepted truth: Cellphones are wildly distracting and diminish student success. Students who don’t use their cellphones during class achieve more, are less distracted, take more notes, and generally feel better, according to myriad studies in the past decade. The use of smartphones to improve learning has not been demonstrated, certainly not to a degree sufficient to overcome their misuse. Hopefully, their absence in school will also reduce bullying.

Hochul’s logic is difficult to refute — remove cellphones and kids will learn more and better. According to the bill, districts must post their policies by August. The proposed law applies to charter schools as well, but not to private schools.

Implementing the plan may not be so simple.

Studies suggest many people have physical and psychological reactions when separated from their phones. Anxiety over missing a text or social media post can be overpowering. Cellphone dependency is real.

Parents also have become dependent on the phones to keep in constant contact with their kids. That's not healthy, either. For real emergencies, the old-fashioned approach still works. Parents can call the school to have a message relayed to their student, or the district can allow the student to take the call in an office.

All school districts will be required to spell out how parents and students can communicate in instances of major disruptions when the phone can be a lifeline between families and first responders. Parents and older students should be involved in developing a district's approach, and administrators should be flexible about adjusting policies after seeing how they play out. 

PROGRESS COULD BE SLOW

Progress might come slowly for schools long caught between irascible kids who can’t give up their phones and tech giants that reap billions from kids’ ceaseless scrolling.

Imagine the first day of school next year, in classrooms across the state, when thousands of teachers tell hundreds of thousands of students they must give up their cellphone for the day.

Kids will need to be taught why they shouldn’t be on their phones 24/7, and how to create healthy phone habits. Schools will have to prepare for discipline issues that arise from telling entire schools of kids that they can’t have their phones.

Hochul’s plan mentions nothing about that kind of curriculum. It will be up to teachers and schools to create lessons that teach kids why it is healthy to break the cellphone addiction. Left unspecified is how schools will discipline kids who violate the policy. Wisely, schools will also have to file annual reports on whom was disciplined to ensure there are no inequities in the enforcement process. 

Another issue yet to be addressed: Who pays when a phone breaks while in a school's custody?

Hochul must direct the state Department of Education to provide a blueprint of lessons for schools to help wean kids off their cellphones, available before the summer. Then schools can be prepared for next school year when students won’t have their phones — and want to know why.

Perhaps, as these kids adapt to a new order, their parents will put their phones aside for awhile, too, and families can enjoy the respite together.