School administrators provided mostly positive feedback to lawmakers curious about implementation of a 2023 law prohibiting students from using their phones.

School officials provided the House Student Academic Success subcommittee feedback last week on , a 2023 law that prohibits phone use during instructional time, prohibits access to certain websites on school networks, and requires instruction to students to responsibly use social media.

鈥淚t鈥檚 gone very very well in many of our classrooms, especially I would say it goes really well in our classrooms with struggling learners. The teachers have seen the benefit of that increased interaction with each other, the increased focus,鈥� said Toni Zetzsche, principal of River Ridge High School in Pasco County.

The law, introduced by Rep. Brad Yeager, a Republican representing part of Pasco County,  support before serving as a sort of model legislation across the nation.

鈥淭he first step of this process: remove phones from the classroom, focus on learning, take the distraction out. Number two was, social media, without just yanking it from them, try to educate them on the dangers. Try to help to learn and understand how social media works for them and against them,鈥� Yeager said during the subcommittee meeting.

An analysis shows Florida was the first state to ban or restrict phones when the law passed, with several other states following suit in 2024.

Florida schools have discretion as to how they enforce the law, with some prohibiting cellphones from the beginning until the end of the day, while others allow students to use their phones during down times like lunch and between classes.

Some teachers have taken it upon themselves to purchase hanging shoe organizers for students to bank their phones in during class, Yeager said.

Since the law took effect in the middle of 2023, Zetzsche said, students in higher level college preparatory classes have partially struggled because of the self-regulating nature of the courses and the expectation that teachers give them more freedom.

But for younger and lower-performing students, the law has been effective, according to Zetzsche and Yeager used to gain support for the bill.

鈥淚n some of our ninth and tenth grade classrooms, where the kids need a little more support, those teachers are definitely seeing the benefit,鈥� Zetzsche said.

Orange County Schools Superintendent Maria Vazquez said schools have combatted student complaints about not having their phones by filling down time, like lunch periods, with games or club activities.

Zetzsche said she has seen herself and others use the phoneless time as an opportunity to get to know more students.

鈥淚 know I鈥檝e spoken with teachers, elementary teachers, middle school teachers, and high school teachers that have said, 鈥業鈥檝e had to teach students to reconnect and get involved or talk to people.鈥� They are doing a better job of focusing on that replacement behavior now, I think. I think we all are,鈥� Zetzsche said.

鈥淚 think, as a high school principal now, when I see a student sitting in the cafeteria and they鈥檙e on their cellphone watching a movie, I immediately want to strike up a conversation and say, 鈥楬ey, are you on the weightlifting team? Do you play a sport?鈥欌�� Zetzsche said.

Bell to bell

Orange County schools decided not to allow phones all day, while Pasco County chose to keep phones away from students during instructional time, the extent the law requires.

鈥淚t was surprisingly, and shockingly, pretty easy to implement,鈥� Marc Wasko, principal at Timber Creek High School in Orange County, told the subcommittee.

Rep. Fiona McFarland, a Republican representing part of Sarasota County and the chair of the subcommittee, encouraged further planning to better enforce the law.

鈥淚 will tell you, because not everything we do up here is perfect, there are some schools that I鈥檝e heard of where, even if the teacher has a bag, kids are bringing a dummy phone, like mom鈥檚 old iPhone, and flipping that into the pouch where they鈥檝e got their device in their pocket or if you鈥檝e got long hair, maybe you can hide earbuds,鈥� McFarland said.

鈥淚 mean, this is the reality of being policymakers, folks,鈥� McFarland continued. 鈥淲e make a law, we can make the greatest law in the world, which is meaningless if it鈥檚 not executed and enforced properly. We could pass a law tomorrow to end world hunger and global peace, but it means nothing if it鈥檚 not operationalized well and planned for well.鈥�

Yeager told the committee he does not plan to seek to ban phones outside of instructional time, although other lawmakers could push for further phone prohibitions.

Department of Education obligation

The law requires the Department of Education to make instructional material available on the effects of social media, required for students to learn under the law.

鈥淔inding the time to be able to embed that into the curriculum is really difficult. We are struggling with instructional minutes as it is, when we have things like hurricanes impact learnings,鈥� Zetzsche said.

鈥淲e are struggling to get through the content, so it would be nice to have something from the Department of Education that is premade that we can share with students, but maybe through elective courses or some guidance on how they would expect high schools, how they would feed that information to students.鈥�

Administrators said parental pushback has been limited, and Zetzsche added that parents have sought advice from schools about how to detach their kids from their phones.

鈥淲hen we struggle with the student who鈥檚 attached to their cellphone, the parents want to put things in place.鈥㏕hey just don鈥檛 know what to do,鈥� Zetzsche said, calling for the department to provide additional information to parents.

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The Senate Education Committee voted 4-1 to send  to the floor for consideration by the whole body, but not before softening the language to read 鈥渞estrict鈥� instead of the original 鈥減rohibit.鈥� 

The measure comes amid a bipartisan trend of new limits on smartphone and social media use in schools. Nearly 20 states, including California, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Florida, have passed laws or enacted policies that either ban or restrict students鈥� use of cellphones or recommend local districts enact such policies. 

Sponsor Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, a retired teacher, said she was inspired to bring the bill by a common teacher complaint that policing phone use has become a classroom nightmare. She cited data on the harmful mental health effects of social media and the hours of screentime many teenagers experience. 

鈥淲hen we talk about trying to do good things for our kids in education, I think this might be one of the most important things we can do for our students,鈥� Schuler said. 

The bill zeroes in on restricting use just during 鈥渋nstructional time.鈥�

Not everyone agreed, however, that it鈥檚 as simple as banning devices, and due to potential complexities around safety, health conditions and communication needs, lawmakers replaced the more stringent 鈥減rohibit鈥� in the original version with 鈥渞estrict.鈥�

What they said

At least 18 of Wyoming鈥檚 48 school districts 鈥� and likely more 鈥� do not have cellphone policies, according to data collected this fall by the Wyoming School Boards Association. The lack of district-wide policies hasn鈥檛 stopped some schools in those districts from adopting specific rules. Senate File 21 would force all districts to adopt policies restricting smartphone use

In states that already have such regulations, Schuler said, the results are promising. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e seeing better social interactions with kids with their peers, better focus in class, higher achievement.鈥� 

Kirk Schmidt of Lander, a retired school administrator, warned lawmakers about passing a bill that would not be nimble enough to react to the ever-changing realities of technology. 

Schmidt also noted that some teachers use these devices for instructional purposes. 鈥淭his takes all that away,鈥� he said. 

Others wondered about enforcement, privacy concerns and timelines. 

Supporters, meanwhile, echoed that smartphones are correlated with declining academic performance and behavioral problems like bullying. 

鈥淚 can tell you that the phones in the schools are very difficult for the teachers and administrators,鈥� said Cheyenne resident Deb Mutter Shamley, who has experienced it firsthand as a substitute teacher. 

Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder supports the bill, a spokesperson told lawmakers. Degenfelder and Gov. Mark Gordon penned a joint letter in September urging Wyoming schools to limit cellphones. 

Tweaks 

In order to allow districts more flexibility, committee members voted to amend the language. They also pushed out the timeline two months to give school districts until Sept. 1 to enact policies. 

Sen. Charlie Scott, R-Casper, said he thinks the measure can 鈥渕ake significant progress in improving the quality of instruction in public schools.鈥�

Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, who cited concern about state government overreach, was the lone dissenting vote. 

The bill now heads to the Senate floor where it must pass three readings before it can advance to the House.

This was originally published on .

WASHINGTON 鈥� The U.S. Education Department called on every state, school and district on Tuesday to adopt policies on cellphone use in schools.

The department asks schools to have well-thought-out policies on the matter, but does not dictate exactly what those policies should be. An accompanying resource for schools notes the risk social media can pose to students鈥� mental health.

鈥淚n this digital age, every elementary, middle, and high school should have a clear, consistent, and research-informed policy to guide the use of phones and personal devices in school,鈥� U.S Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a written statement.

鈥淭he evidence makes clear: there is no one-size-fits-all policy,鈥� Cardona added, noting that 鈥渄ifferent school communities have different needs, and the nuances of this issue demand that local voices 鈥� parents, educators, and students 鈥� inform local decisions around the use of personal devices in school.鈥�

The department acknowledged the role cellphones can play in keeping parents connected to their kids, especially in emergency situations, while also highlighting the increasing evidence on the harms social media can have on youth mental health, such as sleep deprivation and depression.

Increasing state policies

An increasing number of states and school districts have enacted policies either prohibiting or restricting students from using their cellphones in the classrooms.

Across the country, schools and districts continue to grapple with how to deal with kids鈥� cellphone use, and  have sought to ban or restrict cellphone use in classrooms.

As of early November, at least eight states have passed statewide policies that either limit or prohibit cellphone use in the classrooms, according to .

That includes California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia. A Minnesota law forces schools to  by March 2025.

A handful of other states鈥�  have issued  or pilot programs, while lawmakers in several more have introduced statewide legislation regarding cellphone use.

The guidance from the U.S. Education Department coincides with the release of a  for education officials and local communities on adopting cellphone use policies.

In the playbook, Cardona points to U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy鈥檚  in 2023 on  on youth mental health.

Murthy warns: 鈥淢ore research is needed to fully understand the impact of social media; however, the current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.鈥�