Pa. moved toward student cellphone bans this year. Here's what to know as classes resume

Clarification: Council Rock School Board Vice President Ed Tate III's explanation of the district's phone use guidance has been updated at his request.

At Somerset Area School District , students are told to keep their cellphones out of their hands, at least during class instruction.

Superintendent Krista Mathias said it's a policy designed to limit distractions, potential for cheating and cyber bullying that can accompany phone use. A new proposal adopted this summer by the Pennsylvania General Assembly and governor may be pushing Somerset and other districts a step closer to an outright ban.

"It's definitely a double-edged sword, and I don't want to knee-jerk react and create a policy that is not doable and that is not thoughtful," Mathias said.

More: Should cellphones be banned from classrooms? What students, teachers say

"I don't know what we intend to do as a district. I need time to speak to my school board about it."

An amendment to the state's School Safety & Mental Health grant program this summer makes certain government funding available only to districts that apply for and implement a student cellphone prohibition during the school day.

The $100 million grant program gives each qualifying district an automatic base grant of $100,000, and each intermediate unit, area career and technical school, charter school, regional charter school or cyber charter school an automatic base grant of $70,000. For Somerset — a rural district of 1,962 students that straddles the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the state's southwestern quarter — that's meant an award of $137,681 in 2024 for possible purchases including metal detectors, trauma kits and magnetically locked smartphone bags.

"I know that there would be mixed feelings across the board," Mathias said regarding the potential for additional cellphone use restrictions.

On the plus side of prohibition, according to Mathias, would be a concerted districtwide effort to enhance classroom focus. She added, however, that she understands the barriers a ban could create between parent-child communication about after-school activities or in the event of an emergency.

More: States weigh school cell phone bans atop district policies

Approximately 250 miles east of Somerset, in Bucks County, Council Rock School District has been less strict about cellphones.

School board Vice President Ed Tate III said his district doesn't have an explicit ban or cellphone collection policy. Teachers are asked to restrict their use but have the freedom to handle the issue on more of an individual basis.

"We have had discussion recently with our new board, and we are not contemplating a new district-wide policy on cellphone use currently," Tate said.

"My personal opinion — and this is true for most matters — is to give teachers the autonomy to run their classroom in the way they see fit. And that's true currently in our school district for the way we handle cellphone use."

Though Tate said he's heard that phones can be a problem in the classroom, he thinks a ban could create more problems than it solves.

"We've also heard there are times when cellphone use is reasonable in a classroom. So it's not always a case where cellphones need to be taken by a teacher or anything like that," he said.

"It's a balancing act," he added. "I think that's a smart way for the state to approach it, as opposed to some sort of mandatory program. Local control's a good thing."

If some in the Legislature have their way, that district-level discretion will be erased.

State Sen. Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster, has taken credit for the portion of Senate Bill 700 — now Act 55 of 2024 — that requires School Safety & Mental Health grant program applicants to adopt a cellphone ban during the school day. He's announced a continued push for a statewide prohibition.

“This funding is a huge opportunity for any school district looking to address one of the major root causes of the mental health crisis plaguing our kids ― smartphones and social media,” Aument said in a prepared statement.

Aument cited international studies that suggest a correlation between cellphone bans and students' improved test scores . Some researchers additionally found a link between phone prohibitions and decreasing rates of cyber bullying.

"Students deserve to learn without a constant distraction in their pockets," Aument said, "and my proposal would give them that."

Some districts have already gone that route. Millcreek Township School District in Erie County, for instance, recently announced that all students have to keep their cellphones and related devices in their lockers for the entire school day.

As for Mathias, she said she's looking for more guidance from the state on exactly how their policy can be crafted to both satisfy the requirements of the School Safety & Mental Health grant program as well as the concerns of parents who want to stay in contact with their children during the school day.

"I wish we had that detail," she said.

Bruce Siwy is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network's Pennsylvania state capital bureau. He can be reached at bsiwy@gannett.com or on X at @BruceSiwy.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Pa. moved toward student cellphone bans this year. Here's what to know as classes resume