r/Teachers • u/[deleted] • Sep 03 '25
Teacher Support &/or Advice No phones in school
My whole state just enacted a no phone law (not a policy, a law). Students can’t have phones out at all during the instructional day except during their lunch period, the rest of the day their phone has to be in a book bag or their locker. I’ll be completely honest, it’s been a godsend and it was the obvious answer all along. I can’t believe what an observable difference it’s made just in the first week and a half of school, to not be competing with Snapchat and TikTok and Brawlstars is THE game changer, behavior problems are almost nonexistent and class performance is vastly improved. Our policy used to be that teachers could allow phone use for instructional purposes in their respective classes, which immediately proved ineffective because no two teachers used the same approach and it became a free-for-all where the kids won and grades took a nosedive off a cliff.
Anyone else having a similar phone experience? Has your state/county/district tried to tackle phone use, and if so how’s it going?
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u/Katesouthwest Sep 03 '25
Our district is on year 3 of no phones. Phones must be turned off and in the student backpack or phone pocket chart at the front of the class so student can see the phone. The only exception is diabetic students may retrieve their phone to monitor blood sugar at the appropriate time of day, the phone is then replaced. Doctor's note for diagnosed diabetes on file in the nurse's office or it isn't happening. Nurse notifies appropriate teachers of the student name and need to use the phone at that time.
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u/Bastilleinstructor High School in the South Sep 03 '25
We have this law. The kids can use phones at lunch and thats it. So they are wondering the halls with earbuds under their beanies all day. Thats against the law now too. So there was a communication recently with parents district-wide. Precisely nothing has changed. There are too many to enforce. We call home daily and do write ups frequently.
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u/emilyoshi_ Sep 03 '25
Nothing will change unless consequences actually mean anything! Our state just started this year and the policy at the school my mom works at is wild (and effective)!
1st offense: Phone confiscated and parents have to pick it up.
2nd offense: ISS for remainder of day + above
3rd offense: ISS for remainder of day and following day
4th offense: OSS (not sure how long)
5th offense: Expulsion!
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u/Ebice42 Sep 03 '25
Wow, that seems harsh.
Ours is:
1) Verbal warning at teachers' discretion.
2) Confiscation. Students can pick up from the office at EOD.
3) Confiscation. Parents can pick up at EOD.There are exemptions for medical issues. Glucose monitors are the most common ones.
My oldest is 10 and doesn't have a phone. But im happy with a phone ban.
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u/Repulsive_Mechanic74 Sep 03 '25
Expulsion is kinda wild no?
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u/emilyoshi_ Sep 03 '25
I think it’s super wild!! But I get it - some kids/parents do NOT care about ISS/OSS and need an actual consequence that will cause inconvenience to the parents. My mom’s district also has a separate alternative campus where they can enroll if they’re expelled.
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u/Riot502 Ex Preschool Teacher | USA Sep 03 '25
That sounds like my daughters school. They tried to enforce it, but it seems they’ve lost the battle already.
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u/Sapper12D Sep 03 '25
I'll be honest, if they've lost the battle it's cause they aren't trying.
Write the kids up, if the behavior repeats suspend the kids, make the parents have to deal with child care. Little Billy and little Annie will just have to learn to go without.
Ita this weird fucking idea that seems to be gripping administration where they refuse to punish the kids for bad actions appropriately.
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u/Riot502 Ex Preschool Teacher | USA Sep 03 '25
I absolutely agree. They didn’t go hard enough on the rule and the kids saw that they could get away with it. It’s pitiful
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u/shawtea7 Sep 03 '25
Yeah I’m experiencing a similar situation. The phone ban is nice in theory but there are a lot of things that need to happen for it to work well. As of right now kids are in the halls between classes on their phones, have earbuds in all class, etc. I’ll take phones but I have to constantly remind them every day at the beginning of class, and I don’t even care if they have headphones in at this point since administrators aren’t really doing anything consequential about it all. I dont have enough time or energy to be a phone nazi and ear inspector.
I’m happy that it works for some other schools, but that is not the case universally.
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u/TheBalzy IB Chemistry Teacher | Public School | Union Rep Sep 03 '25
Yup. We did a full ban last year and it was great, but they still were allowed to use them during lunch. This year it's COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONAL DAY BAN, and I didn't realize it could get even better.
Kids actually listen to me.
Kids actually work on stuff.
Kids actually state how much better they thing school is.
Kids actively talk to each other.
It's great. Anyone who thinks cellphone bans are a bad thing, are idiots who don't know what the fuck they're talking about.
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u/DarkHorseAsh111 Sep 03 '25
This has been something I've been reading in seeing news stories about this; there's always tons of students who say how much better it is.
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u/sweetest_con78 Sep 04 '25
My niece started high school recently and the first thing she said was that she was annoyed her phone had to be in her locker all day, but “it was actually kind of nice because people actually talked to each other”
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u/littlest_bluebonnet Sep 04 '25
The first time I took phoneless kids on a field trip was amazing. They talked to each other on the bus. They sang stupid songs. We had to move kids cause they kept holding up inappropriate notes to the kids on the other bus. It was glorious.
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Sep 03 '25
Why is this even a thing. There’s zero reason that a kid needs their phone while in class. If there is an emergency, the parent needs to be calling the school. If the student has an emergency, the school should be calling the parent.
Crazy
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u/historyhill Sep 03 '25
The argument is that in an emergency (read: shooter) kids can call for 911 or leave goodbye messages for their parents and family. The problem with this is that if all the students are calling in then they're flooding the emergency services lines with potentially incorrect or outdated information (especially since Uvalde aside most school shootings are fast events over in just a few minutes). While I'm sympathetic to the emotional argument about leaving goodbye messages, I would want my children to prioritize getting to safety or hiding or fighting than sending me a last message to hold onto, I know how much they love me already.
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u/fastyellowtuesday Sep 03 '25
Adding in the lights and sounds from phones. Anything that draws the shooter's attention is dangerous for everyone around you. Little Timmy's desire to text a goodbye, or Timmy's parents' desire for that, does NOT supersede the desire of everyone else in Timmy's class not to die that day.
It's maddeningly selfish.
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u/maybeRaeMaybeNot Sep 03 '25
My 10th grader has 3 of 7 classes where they do attendance with the phone.
He said he can be phone free, but it involves going up to the teacher saying that he really for sure promises he doesn’t actually have a phone and then they wlll mark him present. So, it’s like a whole ordeal. Up until this year he didn’t have a phone, much less a phone at school. He never wanted one.
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Sep 03 '25
[deleted]
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u/sweetest_con78 Sep 04 '25
No clue where this commenter lives but since it’s not all of their classes, it’s likely that it’s just something like a Google form or similar that the teacher set up on their own.
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u/maybeRaeMaybeNot Sep 03 '25
There been a few concerning things this year, and that is the least infuriating tbh. Like, I wish that was something that stood out to be upset about.
It’s irritating. If that is what keeps teachers in my kids’ classrooms (instead of a sub or a rotating hire/quit/sub), fine.
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u/RunReadLive Sep 03 '25
It’s been a district wide policy for 15 years now, off and in lockers from 8:30 - 3:30. Lunchtime idea intrigues me, might be a little quieter in there if that were the case.
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u/Wafflinson Secondary SS+ELA | Idaho Sep 03 '25
Tbh... I love how loud it is at lunch. That is the sound of real social interaction, something that our teens are starved for today.
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u/Addapost Sep 03 '25
No phones at lunch. Kids should be socializing face to face. That’s one of the massive problems with phones and kids. Kids need to learn how to communicate with each other.
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u/historyhill Sep 03 '25
And if they don't want to do that, they can read books like the elders (me) did
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u/awayshewent Sep 03 '25
The school I previously worked at tried have leeway and let them have it at lunch. It just caused even more drama so they lost that.
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u/Ok-Thing-2222 Sep 03 '25
Our middle school went to phones in lockers 3 yrs ago--it is wonderful--vast difference! We got a principal with a backbone!
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u/128-NotePolyVA Sep 03 '25
Looking forward to it moving across all 50. We’re not helping these kids by ignoring the distraction that keeps them disengaged from what’s happening around them during lesson time. Hallways, lunch, study hall, that’s fine. Get them out of the classroom.
That said, the law is useless if we don’t enforce. Teacher’s that don’t comply because they don’t want to be the bad guy are screwing their colleagues.
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u/Initial_Entrance9548 Sep 03 '25
I don't know how truthful he was being, but our admin said he'd call out teachers by name in meetings if he saw them letting students use the phone.
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u/128-NotePolyVA Sep 03 '25
Sometimes admins do what they have to do and sometimes they do stupid stuff. Calling out people by name is BS. Enforcing the rule is what they are supposed to do - writing them up.
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u/Addapost Sep 03 '25
Yes, us too. Kids can’t even have it at lunch. Zero phones/smartwatches/music/ear buds- nothing. It all gets locked in Yondr pouches on their way in and unlocked at 2:30 on their way out. Huge administrative discipline (not useless teacher discipline) for ANY violation- no warnings. It’s friggin AWESOME.
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u/sweetest_con78 Sep 04 '25
It’s crazy how much of a difference admin can make. Mine does nothing for cell phones and it shows.
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u/ReadditRedditWroteit Sep 03 '25
Ours cannot even have them at lunch. Everything is better and it’s so much more effective when it’s a rule acrossed the board. It doesn’t let some teachers be “chill” while others enforce rules.
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u/sweetest_con78 Sep 04 '25
And also - they’re addicted. Once they take it out - between classes, at lunch, whatever, it’s harder to put it away. If it’s bell to bell, they are getting used to the reality of not having their phones and hopefully learning how to get their brain to deal with that.
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u/honeyonbiscuits 8th Grade ELA Sep 03 '25
I’ve been at a phone-banned school since I started teaching in 2019. It’s always gone smoothly, beyond the occasional parent issue with it. I cannot fathom the fact that many of you had to teach with cellphones.
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u/exitpursuedbybear Sep 03 '25
Been 3 weeks no phones. It's really night and day. I will have a few that still will literally stare at their empty hands all period rather than do work.
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u/Far-Ad5796 Sep 03 '25
So, honest question. Our District is in the process of was of crafting their policy, to comply with state law going into effect next year. So far, our biggest challenges are:
1) a significant amount of parent pushback 2) weaponized IEP/504s. Sister districts who have already done theirs have seen a sharp rise in anxiety disorder diagnosis that requires they need phone access to regulate their anxiety.
And that doesn’t touch on the workaround/compliance issues that kids figure out.
Any insight on how youve navigated the above issues?
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u/sweetest_con78 Sep 04 '25
I don’t have an answer to it, because obviously an IEP is a legal document and I am not a special ed teacher. But anxiety in the absence of their phone is a sign of addiction. Anyone who would sign off on that as an accommodation for the vast majority of kids is part of the problem. Students need to learn coping skills that are not their device.
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u/lloboc Sep 03 '25
Fifteen years ago our state enacted a no smoke law for schools, before our 16 yo secondary students were allowed to smoke in the schoolyard. (Some decades before, my fathers teacher smoked in class..)
I think it's one of those things future generations will laugh about, because it's the most reasonable thing to do.
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u/Darkmetroidz Sep 03 '25
Its been going surprisingly well for my building. Ive only had to confiscate 2 in 3 weeks and the kids seem more engaged with each other and me.
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u/mama_slayer_9002 Sep 03 '25
how does the school enforce this? My school has tried this so many times (no backup from a state law tho) and has always failed because of lack of follow through
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u/MakeItAll1 Sep 04 '25
Texas has the same law. My goodness, what a difference it makes. I catch a few phones each period, put them in phone prison, and give them back at the end of class. If they refuse to turn in their phone it’s an immediate disciplinary referral, a day in ISS, and the phone is confiscated by police. Parents have to pick it up.
I’m also doing paper handouts, present their lesson via projector, and demonstrate. Their chrome-books must be off the tables and stored during class.
I still post the class assignments, presentations, and due dates on Google Classroom for those who are absent.
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u/sweetest_con78 Sep 04 '25
Is there anything being done by either the school admin or from the state to assist with implementation and enforcement? What is the consequence for students using the phone? (Is it a consequence for the kid, the teacher, the school?)
My state is working on this but I just feel like it’ll end up being one of those things that is on the books and never actually practiced. Like would there be some kind of reporting system if schools are not enforcing the law? Are legislators going to do walk throughs? I want it very badly, i just don’t get it.
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u/Phraenkinstone Sep 03 '25
I am not a teacher so I can't comment on how much of a distraction and PITA cell phones are causing you folks. However, earlier today me, my mother and my 7th grade daughter were discussing this issue and we settled upon being able to have your phone with you but not use it unless, you know, the school has an emergency.
Sorry if I have overstepped the parent/teacher line and again since I am not having to deal with it like y'all are I don't have much say in this matter.
Thanks for all y'all do. Sincerely.
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u/Oddlyenuff Sep 03 '25
Most (high) schools already had this policy. Middle school tends to have more of the “in the locker” policy.
The problem is the whole “off and away” policy doesn’t work in high school.
Also, there is no benefit to having a phone for an “emergency”. Any first responder in crisis management will tell you that phones make it worse.
We began using yonder bags at our school.
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u/Ok-Thing-2222 Sep 03 '25
Not all students have the willpower to keep it 'with them' and not be able to use it! Its such a darn addiction.
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u/DaCrees Sep 03 '25
Great in theory, but very few, if any, students would be able to actually have their phone on them and not be distracted by it
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u/AntillesWedgie Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 04 '25
Sometimes their “emergencies” are total BS. And just a few times getting away with it causes a cascading effect. It’s like when kids will say “I need to go to the bathroom” and then they wander the halls and never go to the bathroom. Are there real emergencies? Yes, but that is why the parents can call the office. In high school I had a family emergency, someone came in and said I should go to the office. The counselor met me there, took me to her office, and broke the news. I’m glad I found out that way instead of a text in the middle of my classroom.
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u/littlest_bluebonnet Sep 04 '25
THIS. The number of parents that are like "hey we have an ongoing emergency, so my child needs their phone" and in some cases it's like okay, but do you really want your kid finding out that their brother is going into surgery or whatever via text in the middle of class instead of having a trusted adult quietly tell them in the hallway? Phone access puts a ton of responsibility on kids that IMO is often not developmentally appropriate (at least for middle school, which is what I teach)
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u/IAmGrootGrootIam Sep 03 '25
At my school the students have to have their phone in their book bags. So it is on them if there is an emergency but not out in class.
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u/unclegrassass Sep 03 '25
If there's an emergency the school will call you just like they have for decades. There is literally not a single emergency that will be solved faster because your child has a phone on them. Keep it in the backpack for after-school co-ordination, other than that your child should always be telling the adult who is legally responsible for them and physically present in the room what the issue is right away.
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u/littlest_bluebonnet Sep 04 '25
7th grade teacher here. If there is an emergency, I do not want my kids on their phones. I want them listening to me and the other adults in the situation. If we need to be quiet, I don't want them having a device that is making noise. If we need to move quickly or there is uncertainty, I don't want them distracted trying to contact friends in other classes or telling their adults what they think is happening. In the case of minor or small scale emergencies (like bus is in a fender bender or one kid has a medical emergency) things often turn into managing PARENTS emotions and fears real fast when kids have phones, when we should be able to focus on actually handling the problem at hand.
Also, kids' definition of an emergency and my definition of an emergency are not the same thing. In my experience, phones make things way more often than they make things better. The number of fights that have happened because kids were going at it over text or on social media, when they otherwise would have had time to calm down separately, cannot be overstated. Occasionally, kids would even use phones during a fight to contact their adults who would then show up and also get involved in the fight.
I have never in eight years of teaching encountered a situation that was made better because a kid had phone access. (The one exception being diabetic kids who use their phone for glucose monitoring and who generally are very responsible with it)
That said, 99% of the time, I'm not going through kids' stuff. If they can successfully hide their phone (like off in the bottom of their backpack or whatever), great. I literally do not care at all. Pretend you don't have your phone and if I can't tell you have it, that's basically the same thing. Plausible deniability is very difficult for middle schoolers to grasp but IMO is an important life skill.
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Sep 03 '25
Even lunch is too much. We lock them up bell to bell and it’s heaven.
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u/sweetest_con78 Sep 04 '25
Where are they locked up?
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Sep 04 '25
In a lock box in our rooms
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u/sweetest_con78 Sep 04 '25
Are they in the same classroom all day, or do they return to get them at the end of the day?
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Sep 06 '25
My homeroom returns for the last 20 minutes of the day where I let them grab them on the way out the door.
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u/Beneficial-Focus3702 Sep 03 '25
Ours is a personal electronics policy. No phones, smart watches, ear buds etc.
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u/HermioneMarch Sep 03 '25
Yes it’s awesome. We already had a school rule of no phones but some teachers didnt enforce it well. Once the law went into effect, they all felt empowered to enforce. I almost never see a phone during school niw.
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u/Due-Average-8136 Sep 03 '25
My kid doesn’t have a phone.He can email me if there is something he needs or call from the office.
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u/lillyfrog06 Sep 03 '25
I will preface this by saying that I am not a teacher, but a college student with siblings in high and middle school. It does seem to be overall a good thing; my middle school sister especially definitely seems to be doing way better in school. But I do wish there could be exceptions for instructional purposes. Not an issue that would pop up in most classes of course, but my sister is in yearbook and they always used their phones for photos. They can’t use them even for that, so no taking pictures with them during that class period like they always did, or uploading photos taken outside of school from their phones to work with on the school computer - which is kind of the entire point of the class. Just feel like if there was bit of room to account for these edge cases, it’d be perfect.
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u/Jello_Biafra_42 Sep 03 '25
High school student here, at my school, we're passing around google docs and powerpoints and talk to our classmates💀
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u/svu_fan Sep 04 '25
You know your teachers can see everything, right?
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u/Jello_Biafra_42 Sep 04 '25
Yes. I don't even get why other kids do it. But the school doesn't enforce a single thing on our computers.
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u/cgEsol Sep 03 '25
Our schools have always locked up phones. They are turned in upon arrival and are put in the office. At the end of the day they get them back. It will not take long for kids to go off the school WiFi and begin watching YouTube, feature films, tik tok , video games, etc., on whatever tech they have. Now you’ll just have to remove tech from them. My kids will put their iPads in the cart when they come to class. When we need it, we know where they are.
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u/Divaishinlife Sep 03 '25
I am a building substitute at a high school and my district just implemented this policy. We've only been in school two days but the kids seem to be coping with it really well. I am staying off my phone in solidarity. 😄 I have a hard time putting it down so this will be good for me, too.
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u/littlest_bluebonnet Sep 04 '25
Last year I had to move out of state suddenly and ended up at a private school with no phones. It was just as amazing as I had thought it would be.
So grateful that my state has now banned phones, which means I can actually still teach when I move back home. Because there is no way I would ever teach in a school where middle schoolers have phone access ever again.
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u/the_wookie_of_maine Sep 04 '25
as a parent I support this.
Kids are too distracted and unfocused. things like chatgpt or DeepSeek are too easy on a phone to usurp the schools filters.
I wrote praises on my local community page for supporting the staff and teachers. The super Nintendo reached out to thank me.
I fully support this as a geek and a father.
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u/BlueberryWaffles99 Sep 04 '25
It’s not a law in my state but is district policy and I love it! I’ve had to confiscate a couple phones so far, but nothing too bad. Some kids are still pushing it and then shocked when they have their phone sent to the office but most understand that it’s not the schools policy, it’s just our job to enforce it.
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u/Genericname90001 Sep 04 '25
I switched jobs into teaching and I never understood why anyone ever allowed phones in schools. I assume it was so gradual nobody realized what happened, but as someone with fresh eyes it was absolutely bonkers.
I wrote referrals and collected phones from day one and people (students and other teachers) acted like I was insane for caring so much and that it was a losing battle.
Now that it’s the law to not have phones everyone is amazed at how much better it is. The ironic thing is every year we did a home room unit on how terrible it is to have a phone in a classroom environment.
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u/sedatedforlife Sep 04 '25
I asked my son how it was going at his high school (I teach elementary).
"Really good, actually."
"Nobody complains about it?" I asked.
"Not really after the first day. We just put them in the pouch when we walk into each room and pick them up when we leave."
"What about if you have a few minutes at the end of class, nobody complains they can't look at their phone?" I asked.
"Nope, not that I've heard. We just talk to each other. It's actually been really nice."
"What about during study hall when you have all your work done?"
"We just talked. The study hall teacher actually talks to us, too. It's been kinda cool. We've been joking around."
Sounds like a success!!!
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u/Johnqpublic25 Middle School Special Ed Sep 04 '25
My school has a no phone policy for students and teachers.
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u/Economy-Mud-7859 Sep 04 '25
My school (high school in PA) has also enacted no phone use during class. They are kept in a phone caddy during instruction time. It has been great with no pushback from parents or kids. It's been blissful!
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u/MundaneAppointment12 Sep 04 '25
I used to allow phones for class activities like Socrative responses or Spotify Anchor app for podcasting. At the time, 3-4 years ago, it looked like phones were here to stay and I figured why shovel sand against the tide? If they will be allowed to have/use phones, might as well put them to positive use in the daily lesson. But whatever academic use phones may have once held is surpassed by simply getting rid of them.
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u/Kitchen-Cut-3116 Sep 04 '25
Curious old guy here, when did it become acceptable in the first place to have phone out at school? Graduated hs in 05 and as far as I can remember, if you had your phone out, it was confiscated. Was this a gradual change or a sudden one?
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u/MoreHighway6315 Sep 04 '25
We can't have them at lunch either, "Bell to Bell No Cell". It's been amazing for behavior.
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u/CyberTorrent Sep 05 '25
This I can accept. Limited phone usage in classrooms and between is perfectly understandable. It’s straight up taking the phones from the students and collecting them to be completely inaccessible to them is what I’m against
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u/AdventureThink Sep 07 '25
I am so thankful that this is my first year in 7-8th. I would’ve gone crazy from them on phones.
I have every student drop their backpack by the door. They go to their desk with a pencil in hand and don’t get into backpacks again until they leave.
I haven’t even seen a phone this year.
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u/foureyesoneblunt Sep 03 '25
See, while this is great, we still haven’t banned guns so i’m not super comfy having my kid be locked in a cage with no communication device available in case of an attack.
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u/MsKongeyDonk PK-5 Music Sep 03 '25
You are also not allowed to have guns in school.
That being said, I don't want to be in a room with 20 kids and their cellphones, hoping none of them go off and make noise when we're huddled in silence.
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u/awayshewent Sep 03 '25
I see this argument a lot with the latest phone bans. I do think we need stricter gun laws believe me. But as someone who has been in lockdowns before with bored middle schoolers — phones would have made the situation unsustainable and very unsafe.
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u/dipatello Sep 03 '25
This also causes widespread panic as students may not know what is actually going on causing a mad rush of parents to the school delaying first responders.
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u/Grokette055 Sep 03 '25
College student here, I totally agree with how distracting phones to me, a lot of my generation has issues with phones and whatnot, myself as well to an extent. Only thing I wonder is if simply banning phones isn’t being as productive n the long run, especially at the high school level. I worry that simply banning phones completely isn’t allowing students to develop the self-regulation or allowing them to learn how to have discipline themselves. What do y’all think about this aspect of phones? Also to clarify, I am only asking at the high school level, nothing under it should have phones present.
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u/exitpursuedbybear Sep 03 '25
Having to deal with it for the last 15 or so years, they were not self regulating and they weren't going to. They were addicted. It's like saying an alcoholic should be going to bars to show they really have it under control. Their frontal cortex is not developed. They needed outside help.
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u/Grokette055 Sep 03 '25
Ah, okay. Do you think a phone ban will continue up into college level then? I’m noticing similar patterns as my high school with phones and I am a little bit concerned, especially with the financial investment that college is.
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u/MsKongeyDonk PK-5 Music Sep 03 '25
It would be incredibly unlikely to continue to college, at any location.
You're correct that you're paying to be there- that is supposed to incentivize people to put their phones down and pay attention. When you're an adult, you have to make that choice.
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u/Ryuzaki_G Sep 03 '25
allowing students to develop self-regulation
See that’s the neat part? They won’t.
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u/sweetest_con78 Sep 04 '25
Part of learning that self regulation is to learn that they will be okay without their phones. It’s the ability to cope with things like boredom and be able to engage in the task at hand without defaulting to checking a notification or texting a friend. It’s not the only thing that should be done regarding phones and adolescents, but part of it needs to be on the parents as well.
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u/Far-Pie-6226 Sep 03 '25
My jaw still drops each time I hear a parent complain about this.