What you should know about school cellphone bans in Michigan before school starts

While more technology is making its way into the classroom every year, school districts are increasingly asking students to leave one gadget in their lockers: their cellphones.

Numerous Michigan school districts from Flint to East Lansing have adopted policies limiting mobile phone use in the classroom and even school hallways in recent years. School administrators say devices are ultimately distracting and can even pose safety risks, with some students eager to record fights and other calamities.

"There really is no need for phones or other electronic devices like AirPods and things like that during instructional time," said Ashley Schwarzbek, principal at East Lansing High School, which adopted stricter limits to cellphone use in the 2022-23 school year after concerns about school violence and student behavior.

While smartphones have been around for decades now, the recent proliferation of sending students to school with devices has led to reckonings from districts to district in Michigan over what an appropriate policy should look like. In other states such as Florida, lawmakers have even waded into the debate, instituting statewide phone bans in public schools.

The arguments for and against devices are complicated and nuanced: Students with cellphones have been able to reach their parents in dire emergencies, such as the Oxford High School shooting. And cellphones can help document when something goes wrong. However, with the entire internet at a teen's fingertips, the devices are massively distracting.

Ananya Bhumireddy, 17, an incoming freshman at Purdue University who just graduated from Novi High School, said she understands why school leaders want phones out of students' hands: ecause some kids do misuse them. But in other instances, the devices can be crucial for emergencies, she said.

"Kids should use their phones the right way," she said.

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What does a phone ban entail?

How much cellphone use is banned during school time depends on the district.

Schwarzbek said East Lansing's policy forbids phones from classrooms or campus common spaces during instructional time — students can have their phones out during lunch, she said. An increase in violence and behavioral issues at the school prompted community members to pack school board meetings and share concerns over safety measures, including cellphone use, in school.

Since banning phones and taking other measures, the principal said the climate at schools has improved.

"We saw a really positive change in our overall school culture last year, and it's hard to tell, because we implemented several other initiatives last year around positive behavior support and other interventions," Shwarzbek said. "But teachers certainly commented on the increase that they felt in instructional time by not having to constantly redirect students on phones."

Liz Kolb, a professor at University of Michigan's Marsal Family School of Education, said before the pandemic, cellphones in some settings were thought to help bridge the gap between students who could afford access to technology and students who couldn't. But with federal pandemic aid, more schools began to adopt personal device policies, because by then, most schools could afford to supply each student with their own laptop or Chromebook.

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"Federal funding allowed almost every school to be able to afford a laptop per child or Chromebook per child," she said. "This idea of cellphones being a way to mitigate the gap wasn't as needed or important anymore, and bring your own device policies weren't as needed anymore. And so that's where we're starting to see schools now really push back against the student's cellphone."

Here are the policies for some of the biggest districts in the state:

• Detroit Public Schools Community District: Detroit's official adopted policy requires students to keep smartphones and other personal devices out of reach during instructional time.
• Utica Community Schools: Students can carry phones and other personal devices during the school day, but they can only take them out in the classroom if a teacher gives them permission to use for educational purposes.
• Dearborn City School District: Dearborn's policy depends on the school level. Elementary students can have phones with parent permission, while middle and high school students can have phones, but they should remain off during school hours. However, individual high schools are permitted to institute their own policies allowing phones during lunch or other times.
• Plymouth-Canton Community Schools: Elementary and middle school students can have a device at school if it "remains off and concealed" throughout the school day. High school students can have a device, but they can only use it before and after school, as well as during lunch periods.

Statewide policies adopted in other parts of U.S.

Florida and Ohio have adopted limits to cellphone use by students in schools, while a handful of lawmakers in other states have introduced bans.

Florida's law, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May 2023, prohibits students from using wireless communication devices during class time, though students can still bring devices to school.

Such a proposal hasn't been introduced this year in Michigan. However, in 2022, a Michigan lawmaker proposed a law that would similarly ban devices during school hours, according to Chalkbeat Detroit. The bill wasn't considered in a committee and died.

It's unclear whether a similar proposal would make it in Michigan, where many schools and families prize local control of districts, which means it's up to individual public school districts to set many important policies and choose curricula. Kolb said because school communities are vastly different, she believes it's better that the state stays away from adopting a one-size-fits-all policy.

"If there's one thing I know about students and learning in schools is that each school is different, and the demographics, the culture, the community, all play a role in how important or less Important cellphones might be for learning, for safety," she said. "I think instead of the government making a decision about cellphones, it should be each school district ... to make a decision that makes sense for their community and their teachers and their students."

Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com.