Cell phone ban in classrooms to begin this upcoming school year

INDIANAPOLIS — Students in Indiana will no longer be able to have their cell phones during instructional time in classrooms.

Senate Bill 185 was passed during this legislative session and takes effect on Monday, July 1.

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"We don’t permit our sons to take their cellphones to school," Shawnta Stockton Barnes said.

Barnes is not only a parent but has more than a decade of experience as an educator.

"I think there should be some burden on parents to teach their kids healthy habits with cell phones," Barnes said.

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Barnes' sons are in MSD Washington Township School — a district that already has a cell phone policy. But now every district in the state will be required to have one and follow similar guidelines.

The bill says cell phones, along with tablets, laptops or gaming devices, cannot be in the classrooms unless it's for educational purposes, if someone needs it due to a disability or medical issue or if there's an emergency.

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“We have a problem with kids paying attention in school,” State Rep. Julie McGuire said. “Testing scores continue to go down, we have too many distractions in life and social media takes over our kids’ lives.”

Barnes says she agrees with the policy but worries about the burden it puts on teachers and thinks more needs to be done for kids to pay attention in school.

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“Yes, that solves the problem for the drama kids can have on their cell phones, but it doesn’t necessarily correlate to kids paying attention more, in my opinion,” Barnes said. “We still have to work on the strategy to help kids be good note takers, how to focus when they’re in class, when they should advocate for themselves to ask questions if they are not understanding the academic content.”

It's now up to each individual school board to put the rules in place and post them on the district's website.

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Lawmakers hope it improves classroom behavior and social skills.

"If there's not a phone in their hand during class, maybe they're going to sit and talk with their neighbor or talk to their friends in the hallway," McGuire said.