SWAMPSCOTT, MA — As many individual districts have weighed and enacted their own versions of student smartphone restrictions in recent years, one North Shore state senator is proposing a "sustained, daylong separation from smartphones," which he called a "bell-to-bell" ban, in all districts across the state.

State Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) offered testimony before the Joint Committee on Education in support of his bill that would require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to issue guidance to schools on implementing the full-day ban of cell phones in schools.

The bill would also provide detailed procedures for the steps of collection, isolation, and return of the banned personal electronic devices.

"We must take decisive action to ban the use of cell phones in school by students, " Crighton said. "Only sustained, daylong separation from smartphones, also known as a 'bell-to-bell' ban, is sufficient to prevent these academic and mental health impacts."

A statewide ban would override restrictions in individual districts — such as the one the Peabody School Committee approved this spring — that place constraints on student cell phone use during certain parts of the school day.

In his written testimony, Crighton highlighted the contrast between typical classroom settings before and after the introduction of the smartphone in 2007. Before smartphones, he said, students would be able to more directly focus on their teachers and the work in front of them.

Current reality provides a stark contrast, he said, where students are "encapsulated by their devices," with their "phones buzzing with calls, texts, and notifications from social media accounts."
He said students are distracted by this constant stream of input, in addition to the mental health challenges that this technology can unleash on them.

Crighton said the inspiration for filing the legislation came from community member feedback and education coalitions, where he said "it became abundantly clear that there is strong support to enact this change."

New York, Arizona, Oklahoma, and South Carolina are among the states that have enacted phone-free school bans.

Read the article from The Patch here