State education board moves toward cellphone policy for schools

Alaska has joined a growing number of states that are considering cellphone restrictions in schools.

The Alaska Board of Education has directed the state’s education department to create a policy to limit the use of cellphones in schools during class hours.

Currently, there is no statewide cellphone policy in Alaska, and any restrictions must be set at the district or school level. Several already do that, including Wrangell middle and high schools.

“The Stikine Middle School is cellphone, earbud free,” said Greg Clark, who serves as principal at the middle and high schools.

“Any student’s cellphone seen on the middle school premises during school hours will be confiscated by teachers and/or staff for the remainder of the day,” Clark said.

“The first time a student’s phone is confiscated, he/she may pick it up from the office at the end of the day. Students may pick up their phone after a second confiscation only after a parent has been notified of the infraction. Parents will need to come to school to retrieve any phone confiscated more than twice.”

It’s a different policy at the high school, where students are permitted to use phones and earbuds in the hallways during passing periods, in the commons (before school and after school and at lunch) and at each teacher’s discretion, said Clark.

“The general rule is no phones in class,” he said. An example of an exception would be allowing students to use their phones to take pictures in a science class, he said.

More districts around the state are starting to move toward cellphone restrictions.

David Booth, principal of Palmer High School, implemented a ban as a pilot program this year. He described the results as transformative.

“Cellphones distract kids,” he said. “There’s no way around it.”

After just about a month of the ban, Booth said teachers reported that students are more engaged and turn in their classroom assignments more often. They talk to each other in the cafeteria and in the halls. And the need for discipline has dropped precipitously. Last year administrators and teachers dealt with cyberbullying three to four times a week, Booth said, but he has had only two incidents in five weeks.

He said those results point to progress on two major issues: educational outcomes and mental health.

“Those devices are engineered to be addictive, 100%. So, that’s why we’re doing it. We’re not trying to take anybody’s freedom away. We’re not trying to not allow parents to get a hold of their kids,” he said.

At Palmer, students are required to keep their phones in a locked pouch during school hours. If a teacher or administrator sees a phone, they confiscate it. The student’s parents must pick it up at the end of the day. Booth said he suspects the immediate parent involvement may be as much a deterrent as the pouch. Previously, he said, parents were only required to be involved at the third phone confiscation.

In Anchorage, Wendler Middle School and South High School implemented phone bans last year and have kept them in place this year.

They, like Booth, have noticed a drop in cyberbullying and an increase in classroom engagement.

Wendler Middle School Principal Marcus Wilson said parents have “loved” the ban on phones, which he said is in line with the school’s focus on mental health for students.

“Overwhelmingly, the parents were in support of it and thanked us, because they said it really takes the fight out of their hands,” he said.

The students at Wendler are required to put their cellphones and devices in their lockers by 9:30 a.m. and may not retrieve them until school lets out, he said.

While Wilson said the school is waiting to see what their data says about academic outcomes and mental health changes, he has anecdotal evidence that the ban has benefits for students.

“I could tell our students feel better being here at school,” he said.

Anchorage’s South High School has had varying restrictions, but this year is its most restrictive outright ban on cellphones yet. Students leave their phones with their teachers at the beginning of class and may only use them at passing periods and at lunch. Last year, students were allowed to use them for coursework in classrooms — as a scientific calculator, for example.

Principal Luke Almon said there’s no data for this year yet, but initial results from the partial ban last year have been positive.

“Even with the partial ban, what I would call the objective measures of school climate went up,” he said.

Staff at the school said the quality of student-to-teacher relationships improved significantly. Almon said he thinks removing the distraction of cellphones and focusing on in-person communication is what improved those relationships.

“Generally speaking, every academic growth measure on math and English grew … so we just have to wait for a second year of data,” he said. “But I will say, just from the anecdotal side of things, that we have a much easier time getting subs to work in our building because they don’t have to fight cellphones.”

Almon said he’s had to strike a tough balance as a high school principal: He wants to honor the autonomy and decision-making skills of the young adults in his school, but he also wants to remove the distractions that get in the way of learning and community-building.

He said his advice to schools or districts looking at bans is to bring parents and the public into the conversation.

“I think most people at this point have come to realize that if you’re going to learn efficiently, you need to be able to focus on one thing at a time and spend concentrated time on it,” he said.

At least five states already have cellphone restriction policies that are recommended by their education departments, like the one the Alaska state board will develop: Alabama, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Washington and West Virginia.

Lawmakers in a dozen states have introduced legislation that would implement phone bans or restrictions. Eight states, including California, Florida, Indiana and Louisiana have implemented them.

Nationally, more than 70% percent of high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in the classroom and nearly 70% of adults say they would support a ban on middle and high school students using cellphones during class, according to recent findings from the Pew Research Center.

Recent studies have borne out the effects that Alaska’s teachers have begun to observe in their phone-free classrooms. A 2021 study on college students found that “students whose smartphones were physically removed during class had higher levels of course comprehension, lower levels of anxiety, and higher levels of mindfulness than the control group.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he supports the state education board’s resolution to develop an Alaska-wide policy. Education Commissioner Deena Bishop also indicated she would like to see the state take the lead on cellphone restrictions.

Wrangell Schools Superintendent Bill Burr has a different view.

“I do not believe that cellphone or other digital tools can have a statewide policy, as Alaska is a very different and diverse state. Especially in rural areas, access to digital tools and applications (more and more cloud-based) is essential to modern education.”

The Alaska Beacon is an independent, donor-funded news organization. Alaskabeacon.com.