Cell phone roulette: Students face a jumble of restrictions in state’s schools

While some states are passing statewide restrictions on cell phones in schools, the rules are decided pretty much county by county in Maryland. Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images

Jamée Maiden, a 13-year-old eighth grader at William W. Hall Academy in Prince George’s County, said she was allowed to use her cell phone at certain times during the school day last school year.

Not this school year.

“I feel like they help in class for certain things like research. If some people don’t have computers, it is easier to access,” she said.

Prince George’s and Maryland’s 23 other school districts have various cell phone policies, but phones must be turned off during instructional time.

While some states have started moving toward statewide policies on cell phones, Maryland is not there. Some districts this year allow middle and high school students to use them at lunch or during “instructional” time at the discretion of an administrator or teacher. Other districts allow high schoolers to use them in transition between various classes.

Montgomery County officials are working on an “away all day” volunteer pilot program that would require students in participating schools to not use their cell phones during the school day.

Liliana López, a public information officer in the county, wrote in an email Friday that the deadline for schools to sign up was on Labor Day. The list is still being finalized, she wrote.

State Superintendent Carey Wright used one word several times during a recent interview on cell phone policies: balance.

Wright said officials in her department are gathering information on cell phone policies in other states and may present it to the state Board of Education soon.

“There are a lot of districts looking at how do we structure a cell phone policy that gives time away from the cell phones to focus on instruction,” she said. “It’s a balance that you have to find between what’s good for children, what’s good for instruction and what’s good for families. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Wright said an example of a good balance of cell phone usage could be allowing a certain time to students to access them during noninstructional time, and then put them in pouches.

“Some of the school systems are developing schedules to do that,” she said. “They’re in school to learn. If this is interfering with the learning process, that’s where schools are wanting a stricter use of it during the school day.”

At least two school districts implemented pilot programs for cell phone pouches.

Middle school students in Caroline County must turn their phones off and place them in locked pouches . However, they are allowed to remain with students throughout the school day.

In Baltimore County this school year, 16 middle and high schools are part of a pilot program for students to tuck their cell phones away in pouches. Last school year, some middle schools required students to place their cell phones in boxes when they entered a classroom.

Kimberly Sloane, who’s in her seventh year as president of the Allegany County Education Association, would like for her jurisdiction to possibly approve a similar pouch policy.

Right now, Sloane said student cell phone use in class is mainly decided by teachers.

She recalled teaching a high school social studies class seven years ago when a mother called her daughter during class.

“From the things I hear it has worsened. It is just not the appropriate time and space for them to have,” Sloane said Thursday. “Students have technology available with iPads and other computers during the school day. There is technology in the school for students to use.”

‘Social media is a distraction’

According to a Pew Research Center survey released in June, one-third of kindergarten through 12th grade teachers say cell phone distraction is a major problem. The percentage increases to 72% of high school teachers who claim it’s a problem in their classrooms.

The Florida legislature was the first in the nation to pass a policy last year to ban cell phone usage by students during class. It can only be done when a teacher allows it for educational purposes.

Just this summer, state lawmakers in Louisiana and South Carolina approved similar statewide restrictions.

In neighboring Virgina, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed an executive order in July for the state Department of Education to issue guidelines for schools to establish cell-phone-free education. School districts there must adopt policies by January.

State legislators in Ohio, Indian and Minnesota approved policies that recommend school districts to create similar cell phone policies.

All those states provide exceptions for special needs students with an Individualized Education Program, or a 504 plan, which requires reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.

Annette Anderson, assistant professor and deputy director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, said policies should be more “nuanced” to ensure parents, the community and educators are part of ongoing conversations to maintain and improve student achievement.

For instance, she said some students may need cell phones to connect with parents to look after younger siblings or assist their parents who may not be able to work.

“I think that this brings up a need for more conversation in PTAs, and back-to-school nights and other venues where family engagement is a conversation that families and school staff can really talk about the pros and the cons of this,” said Anderson, a parent with two children who attend Baltimore City public schools.

Anderson, a former school administrator, said she supports school districts that allow students to bring their cell phones in school, but that disabling social media sites such as TikTok or Instagram during the school day would benefit educators and students.

Several Maryland school districts filed a lawsuit last year against Google, Meta, ByteDance and Snap Inc. for targeting and manipulating youth.

“I would probably come down on the side of advanced technology that allows students to use their phones, but disable social media,” Anderson said. “We have to have a way that those programs can be disabled during the school hours. Social media is a distraction.”

Jamée Maiden’s mother, Phyllis Wright, said students don’t need to use their cell phones during the school day. But the recent high school shootings in Georgia and in Harford County are why Wright wants her daughter to still have a cell phone in school.

“We never know what might happen,” Wright said. “I would rather my child to have a phone than not have one.”