Phoenix Charter MCPSA: We banned cellphones in our schools. It’s had a powerful, positive impact on students.
EIGHT YEARS AGO, our schools took a leap that many others are only now debating: We banned cell phones.
The Commonwealth is close to doing something about the impact of cell phones on learning. The House and Senate have passed versions of a “bell-to-bell” cell phone ban in schools, which is now in a House-Senate conference committee to iron out differences. Before the Legislature breaks for the year at the end of July, it should ensure the proposal makes it to the governor’s desk for her to sign into law.
School is meant to be a safe place for young people to focus, grow, and learn. Yet phones were interfering with academic learning and focus in general, negatively impacting youth mental health and limiting healthy social and emotional development. We had to release our students from an online world they were trapped in. It was a learning curve, and what happened was something we never predicted: Students thanked us for the structure, and teachers, even those who were skeptical, said they could teach for impact again. Subsequent research on the effects of social media on the brain’s ability to focus and retain information validated our approach.
Read the full story via Common Wealth Beacon >> https://commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/we-banned-cellphones-in-our-schools-its-had-a-powerful-positive-impact-on-students/