In school hallways, cellphones are almost as ubiquitous as backpacks; and educators say that is a big problem.
In April, Pew Research Trust released a new study, “What’s It Like to Be a Teacher in America Today?” that asks educators to identify the biggest challenges their students face, and what’s getting in the way of teaching.
According to the study, poverty, absenteeism, anxiety and depression topped the list of student challenges, but teachers also said that cellphones are an impediment to learning. In fact, 33 percent of teachers surveyed said students being distracted by their cellphones is a major problem in their classrooms. In high schools, the issue is even more prevalent; 72 percent of high school teachers say there’s cause for concern.
Cellphone policies in New York vary from district to district, building to building and even classroom to classroom. This summer, Gov. Kathy Hochul kicked off a “listening tour” to hear from educators and parents about the impact of cellphones on students, as part of her goal of developing a statewide policy about phones in schools.
At Edgemont schools in Westchester County, educators are already hard at work prepping a districtwide cellphone initiative that they hope to roll out this fall. “We see the train coming down the track, and we’re trying to get ahead of it,” said Jonathan Hansonbrook, Edgemont Teachers Association president.
Currently, Edgemont cellphone policies are left up to the discretion of the building principals, creating a scattershot approach that has not produced successful results in the fight for students’ attention.
“We can all agree that during the school day, students should be engaged in the school itself, engaged in their schoolwork, interacting with their friends and teachers, not staring at their phones,” Hansonbrook said.
This year, Hansonbrook and his team are supporting a cellphone ban for all students during instructional time. The initiative will be led by educators and complemented by the local’s purchase of cellphone holders for every classroom. Hansonbrook hopes the experience will be so positive that educators will then lobby for codification at the district level.
“We want clear, consistent and universal compliance with a single policy that helps our kids and helps them learn,” he said.
Schoharie central schools, a rural district 40 minutes west of Albany, implemented a “distraction-free policy” at the junior-senior high school in January 2023, which prohibits 6–12 grade students from using cellphones, smartwatches, or earbuds during the school day.
“It totally changed the climate of our schools,” said Natalie McKay, president of the Schoharie TA. “Our students are engaged again. They talk to each other in the halls and at lunch. It has been a gamechanger.”
The policy was initially greeted with resistance, but McKay and her members put effort into educating parents and staff. “The pushback was, ‘We’re going backwards with technology,’ but really, the opposite is true: As technology progresses, our policies have to evolve to keep pace,” she explained.
At suburban Bethlehem Central Schools in the Capital Region, smart devices have been banned at the high school since 2023. The policy requires students to deposit their phones, smartwatches, and earbuds in locked pouches upon arrival at school, where they remain for the school day. This policy replaced an older, more lax phone policy that asked students to stow their phones at the beginning of each class but allowed phones between classes and during lunch. There was already a ban in place at the middle and elementary level.
Bethlehem Central TA President David Rounds is the first to admit that he was initially skeptical of the latest policy, but its success has made him a true believer. “I was concerned about enforcement … (and) about students losing the ability to learn on their own how to monitor their cellphone use,” he said. “After a year of the more restrictive policy, I’m happy to admit I was wrong with my opposition.”
Rounds reports that students are less distracted and more engaged in class and socialize more with their peers between classes. “They started to relax significantly. That fear of missing out was a really big concern they had until they realized it wasn’t a legitimate concern. The people they would have been texting, the people they would have been sending messages or snaps, or making TikToks with, they couldn’t access their phones either,” Rounds said.
This month, NYSUT is hosting Disconnected, a convening exploring the impact of cellphones on students, schools and learning. For more info, visit nysut.cc/disconnected.