From total bans to lunch breaks: schools split on cellphone rules

While New York’s new law mandates a bell-to-bell ban, districts’ solutions vary — from locking devices in pouches to allowing limited use at lunch — aiming to improve student focus, behavior, and mental health.

Monroe-Woodbury Central School District

This year, district middle- and high school students will lock their devices in Yondr pouches each morning and keep them sealed until dismissal. The Yondr pouches, which student phones, watches, earbuds and headphones are placed in, are to stay in backpacks or lockers all day. Students will have possession of their devices all day but won’t be able to access them. At the end of the day, students will be able to unlock their pouches at designated stations. Exceptions will be reviewed individually, usually for medical needs. Parents can call the main office in case of emergencies.

Middle School Principal Rafael Vasquez, Jr. said the Yondr pouches are used in over 2,000 schools world-wide and that “research shows phone-free schools report higher student engagement, experience fewer social media conflicts, see better behavior and academic focus and promote improved mental health.”

Goshen Central School District

The district’s rules depend on the grade level. Elementary students are discouraged from bringing phones to school at all. Middle and high schoolers must silence their devices and store them in lockers. Goshen interim superintendent Tom Bongiovi said students who use their cell phones for medical or other accommodations will still be able to. Telephones will be available in every room, along with the main office if a parent needs to contact their child.

“It’s a change in the mindset,” Bongiovi said. “It’s all about educating the families about...what they need to do to contact their child.”

Bongiovi added that the funds the school receives for implementing the cell phone ban will “be put to use towards enforcement and/or education of the cell phone policy.”

Warwick Valley Central School District

In the district, all devices must be silenced and stored in designated lockers, classroom bins, or the school office. The rules indicate that “continuous possession of devices is not consistent with the law’s intent to prohibit unsanctioned use during school hours” -- meaning students can’t keep phones in backpacks or check phones stored in a locker during the school day.

Parents can call the main office for urgent matters.

West Milford Township Public Schools

Phone use is simply “limited” during the school day, used during extracurriculars and on bus rides.

Sparta Township Public School District

Sparta adopted its policy last year and doesn’t plan to make changes. The rules ban devices for pre-K through eighth grade. Use in high school is strongly discouraged. High school students store their devices in classroom lockers during classes. Cellphone use is permitted under certain circumstances and at lunch and between classes.

After a year with the policy, Sparta Township Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Beck said positive feedback has come from administrators and teachers regarding student engagement, improved social interaction, and higher test scores.

“Students actually appreciated it,” Beck said. “They appreciated not...having the distraction and knowing that their friends and their peers also don’t have their cell phones out, so they’re not missing anything.”

Vernon Township School District

The school district kept the same rules in place from last year: No phones for K-3, homeroom lockboxes for grades 4-5, and lockers for middle- and high school students.

According to Jacquelyn M. Van Orden, principal of Glen Meadow Middle School

students have shown increased engagement in classroom discussions and group activities. She said that without the distraction of cellphones, students are interacting more with their peers during free periods and between classes. Teachers report that “students have expressed...they feel less anxious, and teachers compare their demeanor to “a weight being lifted,” Van Orden said. “Students are less concerned with being talked about/posted on social media, and seem more relaxed.”

Delaware Valley School District

The school district’s “off and away” policy allows cellphone use at high school lunch, or with staff permission. According to assistant to the superintendent Jayson Pope, the policy allows students to use their phones at certain times while still adhering to the district’s acceptable use policy.

Pope acknowledged that the policy can be frustrating if staff members have to address the same behavior constantly.

“The more engaged the students are in what’s going on inside a classroom, the less likely they’re going to be tempted to pull their phone out for something that’s not school related,” he said. “The focus has always been on responsible use and trying to model proper use of cell phones, and not so much you can’t have them.”

In district elementary schools, devices are banned except for emergencies.

Cellphones certainly aren’t going away, but schools are trying different ways to limit distractions, boost focus, and encourage face-to-face interaction.