Oklahoma Schools Hope Cellphone Bans will Keep Focus on Learning

OKLAHOMA CITY — More than a decade ago, a small school district in southeast Oklahoma banned students from using cellphones during the school day.

Warner Public Schools has scored among the top schools in the state ever since, consistently earning A’s and B’s on annual state report cards.

Superintendent David Vinson said the cellphone ban has been integral to Warner’s academic success. He said the zero-tolerance policy removed distractions from the classroom, cut down on bullying and discipline issues, and encouraged students to build camaraderie face-to-face.

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“I think if you ask our teaching staff — and I’m confident in saying this because they say it all the time to me — they feel like our cellphone policy is a huge and vital part of what makes us successful,” Vinson said.

More districts across the state, including some of Oklahoma’s largest, are following suit this school year with tighter restrictions or outright bans on student cellphone use.

The trend extends nationwide. About 76% of all U.S. public schools, including 43% of high schools, prohibit non-academic use of cellphones, according to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics .

Tulsa Public Schools, which has the highest enrollment in Oklahoma, doubled down on its existing policy this year, forbidding elementary and middle school students from using cellphones, smart watches or headphones for the entire school day. Tulsa high school students must turn off and put away these devices during class time.

“We needed to ensure that our students and families know that we’re going to remove every distraction that we can remove so that they can be fully focused on academics,” Tulsa Superintendent Ebony Johnson said.

Bixby Public Schools, with 7,900 students south of Tulsa, announced a similar policy this year, citing a “significant rise in cyberbullying, sharing of inappropriate content, unauthorized recordings, loss of academic focus, safety concerns and diminished social interaction.”

Union Public Schools, the ninth largest district in the state, added its ninth-grade center to the list of schools with an “off and away all day” requirement for cellphone devices. Middle schools in the southeast Tulsa district already enforced the rule.

School cellphone bans discussed at state Capitol

State lawmakers have considered ways to incentivize more school cellphone bans.

Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, filed legislation to offer grants of $100,000 to $1 million to schools that implement a phone-free campus policy. The bill never made it out of the Senate, but Pugh, who leads the chamber’s Education Committee, said he intends to file similar legislation again.

Pugh said he’s heard from some teachers and district officials who would support a statewide ban on cellphones in public schools. Doing so could take pressure off of local school officials who might face fierce pushback from their community if they were to implement the policy on their own, he said.

“I love the fact that schools are taking this upon themselves to figure out because I really think it’s that important,” Pugh said. “This is a hard thing to do.”

The reason the Warner district has been able to maintain its zero-tolerance policy is by having top-to-bottom support, said Vinson, the district superintendent. Teachers, principals, district administrators and the school board have all backed the no-cellphone rule and ensure it’s enforced consistently.

“You have to have board support,” Vinson said. “If your policy dies at board support, you’re done.”

Discipline for violations vary

The punishment for breaking the rule varies by district.

In Warner, students caught with a phone have the device confiscated for a calendar week, or they can opt for a three-day out-of-school suspension. A second offense comes with a two-week confiscation or a five-day out-of-school suspension. Vinson said no student in Warner has ever broken the rule a third time.

Tulsa’s policy doesn’t involve confiscating phones, said Johnson, the district’s superintendent. Teachers will give warnings to put phones away, and if a student doesn’t comply, the school will call home to notify the child’s family.

Enforcing a cellphone ban might be harder in large schools, Vinson said, because of the sheer number of students to keep track of. He said it was easier to implement the rule a decade ago, when far fewer students had cellphones, especially among younger grades.

But, Vinson said it’s still worth trying — each school in its own unique way.

“I think to be successful educationally you have to find a way to remove the cellphones from your educational environment,” he said.

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com . Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and X .