Two Local School Divisions Propose Cell Phone Bans

Fredericksburg and Caroline look at going "phone free."

by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT

Fredericksburg City and Caroline County Public Schools appear poised to join the growing number of school divisions across the state and country that are going “phone free.”

“Beginning with the opening of school in August, we are proposing that no student cell phones will be allowed to be used for students in grades PK through 12 during the school day,” Matt Eberhardt, deputy superintendent of Fredericksburg City schools, told the School Board at its regular monthly meeting on Monday. “The reason for this decision is to address mental health and behavior issues with students.”

The division’s cell phone policy currently allows students to have their phones in school, but they must be off and stored except during breakfast or lunch in the cafeteria.

“We have seen some success with this, but students are still using their phones” in the hallways and during class, Eberhardt said.

A gesture of support for teachers

Eberhardt, and several parents who spoke in support of a cell phone ban, cited recent research into how disruptive these devices are to student learning.

According to a 2023 study by Common Sense Media cited by one parent, youth who participated in the study received a median of 237 notifications on their phones each day. A quarter of these arrived during the school day and 5% at night.

All but 3% of the study participants said they use their phones during school hours, for a median of 43 minutes, ranging from less than one minute to six and a half hours. The median number of pickups per school day was 13, and the range was from less than one to 229 per day.

Participants spent 32% of their school-day phone use checking social media, 17% playing games, and 26% watching YouTube.

According to a study cited by Eberhardt, which observed middle and high school students over a 15-minute period, the youth spent less than six minutes on their assigned task before getting distracted by their phones.

Eberhardt also described the correlation between phone use and mental health. A study of 500 adolescents aged 11 to 15 found a positive association between social media use poor sleep quality, anxiety, and depression, he said, and rates of teen depression and suicide have “skyrocketed” since 2011.

Teachers are asking for support in managing student cell phone use, Eberhardt said.

“Teachers want to teach, and they can’t teach while they are policing cell phone use,” he said.

Holly Clark, the parent of two elementary students, said she worries about the number of teachers who have left the school division.

“My [rising 6th grade] son’s teachers have left every single year. He has never had a teacher to go back and visit the next year,” she said. “Teachers don’t want to leave, but they are leaving because they are feeling like they are not supported. This is a gesture you can make to say you support teachers.”

Board members supportive, but have questions

School Board members said they are supportive of a division-wide cell phone ban but questioned how it would be implemented and enforced.

Eberhardt said students in grades K-5 would be asked to leave their devices at home and that the division has been looking into Yondr pouches for students in middle and high school.

Students would store their phones in a pouch which would be locked upon entering school each day.

Yondr conducted a study of 1,200 schools that use the locked pouches and found that 94% of teachers identified more teaching and learning time after going phone-free. Sixty-five percent of schools saw an increase in academic performance, 74% saw an improvement in student behavior and 83% saw an improvement in student engagement in class.

School Board Malvina Kay and Jennifer Boyd questioned the cost of purchasing the Yondr pouches and wondered if it would be simpler to require students to leave devices at home.

Other Board members wondered how the ban would be enforced and what the expectations would be for staff cell phone use.

Eberhardt said the division is aware there are many details that need to be ironed out.

“We don’t know all the problems. We just know we want to go phone-free,” he said. “We know we will need to move quickly. And there is no shortage of people who are excited to tackle this.”

Caroline County’s proposed policy

Caroline County Public Schools is also proposing to implement a cell phone ban this upcoming school year.

Jeff Wick, coordinator of safety and compliance, presented a first read of a policy prohibiting student use of personal cell phones and “other personal communication devices such as ear buds or wireless headphones” throughout the instructional day, including in the hallways, restrooms, and cafeteria.

Devices may not be turned on during the school day and must be stored in a personal backpack, locker, or vehicle, according to the draft policy.

Wick said electronic devices have been a distraction in the classroom and have led to discipline issues being instigated and publicized. He said teachers are inconsistent in implementing and enforcing existing cell phone restrictions and that divisions that have enacted more stringent policies “have reported an improvement in learning, increased positive social interaction, stronger connection with teachers, improved discipline, and increased student achievement.”

As in Fredericksburg, School Board members said they were in agreement with the idea of restricting cell phone use but had questions about how a ban would be enforced.

Michael Hubbard, Bowling Green representative, said he thinks the policy as presented is “unbalanced” and could be less restrictive for older students.

“I think there are opportunities to teach digital skills without obstructing or impeding instructional purposes,” he said. “I think the policy needs to evolve.”

Wick said staff reached out to “eight or nine” school divisions that have already implemented cell phone bans and have shared that it is challenging to permit even limited cell phone use during school day.

“It’s pretty much universal that the idea is to have complete restriction during the school day,” he said. “If we open it up during lunch, it’s hard to enforce, because once the students have their phones, they want to keep them. Then we have text messages going, Facebook posts happening, they are instigating each other, and we are having disciplinary issues arise.”

Wick said staff will spend the next month developing “procedures and practices to execute and enforce [a cell phone ban], to include a process for confiscating devices and returning them to parents as well as collecting and returning devices to students each day.”

Also at School Board members’ request, staff will also develop a survey to gather community input into the proposed ban.

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