When Abington School District students return to school in September, they will face new rules prohibiting them from using their cellphones during the school day. The district is the last to implement the rule, which advocates say can improve student learning and mental health and which has the support of lawmakers in Harrisburg and elsewhere in the country.
Abington School District Superintendent Jeffrey Fecher announced the policy at a school board meeting Tuesday night and shared a letter with the community explaining the decision. Fecher said parents reached out to him with concerns about how much access their children had to their cellphones during school hours. He then urged principals to come up with plans to “help reduce these distractions in Abington’s schools.”
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Middle and high school students in Abington are required to put their cell phones in holders that the district purchases for its classrooms. When students arrive at class, they put their phones in the holders’ pockets and then take them with them when they leave class. At elementary schools, principals will not enforce cell phone rules during the day. Fecher said individual concerns at those schools are addressed as they arise.
The district said details on how the policy will be implemented will be communicated to students and their families before the start of the school year. Exceptions will be made for students who need their cellphones for health reasons or accessibility. The district did not say whether students will be allowed to use their cellphones between class periods and during lunch. Schools that have implemented cellphone restrictions have different policies for use outside of class time.
“We will evaluate the effectiveness of this initiative and make adjustments if necessary,” said Fecher.
Last month, Pennsylvania lawmakers approved a $100 million program that allows school districts to purchase lockable cell phone bags that students can store their phones in when they enter classrooms. The voluntary program is designed to help school districts and policymakers assess how cell phone restrictions affect students, teachers and families.
The initiator of the bill, Senator Ryan Aument (R-Lancaster), has stated that he wants to seek a nationwide ban on cell phone use during school hours.
“Student cell phone use in school is a major problem, not only when it comes to distractions in the classroom, reduced student attention spans and declining academic performance – it also negatively impacts their mental health and social skills,” Aument said after lawmakers voted on the legislation. “The data is clear and has confirmed what parents, teachers and administrators are experiencing in the classroom.”
Last summer, the Philadelphia School District updated its cell phone policy, saying students should not use personal devices during class. At Science Leadership Academy, a public magnet high school in the Spring Garden neighborhood of North Philadelphia, ninth-grade teachers tested a policy similar to the one planned in Abington last year. SLA teachers were pleased to see that students interacted more with each other when they put away their cell phones.
“The methodology will of course be different – but after this year, I don’t think I’ll ever be convinced that kids should carry these things with them at work,” wrote Matthew Kay, a teacher at SLA, on X, formerly Twitter.
School districts in Los Angeles and New York City, two of the largest public school systems in the country, plan to enforce cellphone bans next school year. New York City Public Schools Superintendent David Banks has reinstated the city’s cellphone restrictions in schools after they were in place under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“We’re seeing the damaging effects of these phones and internet access across the country,” Banks told Education Week. “In fact, kids all over the world have become completely addicted to these phones.”
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has been increasingly raising awareness of the dangers of excessive social media use among young people, recently calling for such platforms to display warning labels. But critics have warned that over-the-top bans could prevent children from accessing online mental health resources. Murthy said in June that mobile phones have no place in classrooms.
“Schools should ensure that classroom learning and leisure activities take place without mobile phones,” he said. “Parents should also create mobile phone-free zones around bedtime, mealtimes and social gatherings to protect their children’s sleep and real-life contacts – both of which have a direct impact on mental health.”
At least 11 states have passed laws regulating cell phone use in schools, ranging from outright bans to mandatory policies and incentive programs. In New Jersey, a growing number of school districts, including Willingboro and Pennsauken, have adopted policies requiring students to keep their cell phones in a bag. Delaware has an incentive program that helps schools purchase materials to restrict cell phone use.
Some opponents of banning cell phones in schools say it prevents students from communicating with parents who may be coordinating extracurricular activities or trying to reach their children in an emergency. Others say bans don’t work, limit students’ independence, and don’t take into account how cell phones could be used to improve teaching and learning.
Fecher said the Abington policy was inspired in part by psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation,” which examines how cell phones, social media and changing parenting styles have altered child development.
“We believe these changes will benefit our students socially and emotionally, and will also help avoid distractions in the classroom, as there is growing evidence that cell phones have a negative impact on students’ mental health over time,” Fecher said of Abington’s policy.
