For the past decade, phones have been a significant part of everyone’s lives, especially the lives of youth. Students have their phones with them at all times, even at school or in class. However, California is looking to stop them from being a distraction.
Assembly Bill 3216, which our state legislature passed on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024 is looking to limit cell phone use in K-12 schools throughout the state. This bill was introduced by Josh Hoover, a Republican representative, and authorized by Hoover, Josh Lowenthal, and Al Muratsuchi. This bill requires schools to establish and follow a phone policy by Wednesday, July 1, 2026. This means schools must limit or ban students’ use of phones during school hours. This applies to all school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education.
As technology continues to evolve, and cell phone usage becomes even higher among teens, schools will be required to update policies every five years. An example could be requiring students to place their phones in a sealed pack during school hours.
Bans have already been implemented in the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) as well as the Lincoln Unified School District (LUSD) in Stockton. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will put their ban into effect in January. According to lausd.org, School Board Member Kelly Gonez said, “The negative impacts of cell phone use in adolescents … are increasingly clear, it’s important that we take proactive steps in addressing these challenges when students are in our care, and updating our cell phone policy will help ensure we can focus on learning during the school day.” SBUSD started its ban in the 2022-23 school year, and in LUSD, students are required to turn off their cell phones at the beginning of class and set them away.
Some classes at Berkeley High School are already adapting to a phone-free environment. Berkeley International High School (BIHS) has made it a small-school-wide rule to have students store their phones in a phone pouch for the entirety of every class. BIHS co-lead teacher, Melissa Jimenez said this is something they have been doing for two years now.
“We talked about just how much time we were losing policing phones in the past. I used to be able to just tell student(s) to put a phone away and they would do it. But after the pandemic the level of addiction to that device was so strong (and) unprecedented. I would tell students to put a phone away and they get it right back out,” Jimenez said.
Additionally, Jimenez said she has noticed a great change in the way students learn after the phone pouch rules were established. She said, “It allows students to focus more, not just on what you know, what they’re learning, of course, but also on each other … I have noticed just huge improvements in students’ ability to communicate with each other. Like to have meaningful and productive discussion.”
Angela Coppola, an Academic Choice (AC) history teacher, locks her students’ phones away and puts them in a locker. “A lot of class time is lost to asking students to put their phones away, and repeating yourself because students aren’t listening to you because they’re on their phones,” she said, “(with their phones away) students talk to one another more and develop positive social bonds.”
However, she doesn’t agree with fully adapting to a phone-free school. “I think students should be able to have their phones during passing periods and lunch. They need to be able to reach their families and employers,” Coppola said.
Limited contact with family and emergency services is a worry among students. Some students feel they will have no way to contact their family or medical workers if they don’t have access to their phones. “If there was a ban on cellphones I would feel unsafe because in the event of an emergency, I wouldn’t be able to call for help,” Josephine Smith, a sophomore in AC, said.
The way BHS is currently conducting their phone policy allows for students to still contact family if necessary.
“I would say, if a student needs their phone because, you know, (their) dad is really ill and we were in the hospital all night and I might get a phone call that’s related to a family emergency, of course I want that student to be able to get a phone call and to take it in the hall,” Jimenez said.
The next step in this legislation is for Govenor Gavin Newsom to sign it into law. According to Berkeleyside, it is very likely that he will do so as he has shown he is in agreement with it through letters asking the school districts to restrict cell-phone usage this school year. Once it is signed into law, phone policies and limits will be required on elementary, middle and high school campuses throughout California.