On Monday, students in the Los Angeles Unified School District return to class with some new rules — including a plan to ban cell phones in classrooms.
The hotly debated measure is set to take effect in January and will affect the more than 400,000 students who returned to their campuses across Los Angeles County on Monday.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told KNX News that the new cell phone policy aims to help students concentrate during class.
“We have to separate them,” Carvalho said. “We have to allow them to be children again, to socialize with their peers and be what children should be: happy, playful and joyful.”
The Los Angeles Unified School District board passed a resolution in June by a vote of 5-2 calling on the district to ban students from using cell phones and social media throughout the school day.
Board member Nick Melvoin said the resolution aims to combat cyberbullying and promote focus and concentration in the classroom. The proposal cited research linking the effects of excessive cellphone use to increased stress, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, feelings of aggression and suicidal thoughts in teens.
Some parents are reluctant to this idea because they want to give their children access to phones in case of emergency.
The resolution, co-sponsored by board members Jackie Goldberg and Tanya Ortiz Franklin, claims that students’ use of cell phones “can stifle meaningful face-to-face interactions and enable cyberbullying.”
Another change in LAUSD will be the introduction of electric school buses. The new buses will begin operating in some areas on Monday, and there are plans to eventually replace all buses with electric vehicles.
In the midst of the upcoming school year, LAUSD will ask voters in November to approve a $9 billion bond to fund school campus upgrades and expansions. Carvalho told the school board last week that more than 60% of the district’s school buildings are over 50 years old and are in dire need of upgrades.
To pass the proposed bond measure on November 5, the support of 55% of voters is needed.
The bond, however, faces opposition, including from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which says the bond would cost owners of an average-priced home more than $8,200 in higher property taxes over 30 years.
But local authorities point to the security improvements that have already been made on many campuses.
Mayor Karen Bass said Friday that more than 450 speed limit signs and 250 speed bumps have been installed near schools to make it safer for children to get to school.
She also said the city’s Department of Transportation will deploy more than 500 school crossing guards in the 2024-25 school year, calling it the “most extensive deployment” of school crossing guards in over a decade.
“The city has urgently implemented hundreds of safety precautions near schools ahead of the new school year,” Bass said in a statement. “In partnership with the City Council and the Los Angeles Unified School District, we have taken steps to make streets near schools safer, and we will continue to do more to promote student safety.”
