In a recent BVSD school board meeting, members discussed tightening the district cell phone policy. The conversation comes as districts across the U.S., including in California, New York, and Florida, have already begun to crack down on cell phone use.
In Colorado, districts like Jefferson County and Douglas County have implemented ‘bell-to-bell’ policies to limit phone use during school hours. According to a 2023 Surgeon General advisory, teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media are twice as likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.
KGNU’s Alexis Kenyon reports
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09_17_24_bvsdcellphones Alexis Kenyon
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At a recent meeting, the board discussed various ways to tighten cell phone policies across the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD). On one end of the spectrum, they could allow phones outside the classroom. On the other, they could ban phone use from bell to bell, meaning no phones would be allowed during the school day.
“The research for bell-to-bell is overwhelming,” said Alex Medler, a BVSD school board member. “If these were medical studies, they would have canceled them halfway through because the effects were so positive. We’re talking about students learning a lot more, socializing during lunch, and seeing improvements in mental health. All four of the new board members ran on campaigns addressing student mental health, well-being, and belonging. These are the things the data shows will improve with a bell-to-bell approach.”
BVSD already has a policy limiting cell phone use in class, but according to students and teachers, it leaves a lot of wiggle room, especially for high schoolers. “We’ve heard from teachers, overwhelmingly, that they’re spending too much time policing phones in the classroom. It’s taking time away from instruction, it’s frustrating, and it’s inconsistent from one classroom to another,” said Beth Niznik, BVSD vice president. “There’s a lot of subjectivity and discretion in our current policy.”
Across the U.S., more than 70 percent of high school teachers say phone distractions are a major problem in classrooms, according to a Pew Research study. The conversation about banning phones in schools has gained traction in recent months, particularly after the release of Jonathan Haidt’s bestseller The Anxious Generation, which explores how smartphones and social media have impacted teens. Haidt argues that a phone-based childhood has led to various social and developmental harms like attention fragmentation, social isolation, and addiction. The book, published in May, was required reading for BVSD’s school board in August.
“We have kids who are addicted to their phones,” said Rob Anderson, Boulder Valley School District Superintendent.
Since the early 2010s, according to the CDC, when smartphones became widespread, anxiety and depression among teens have skyrocketed. Emergency room visits for self-harm among U.S. adolescent girls more than doubled from 2010 to 2020, and suicide rates among teenage girls have reached their highest recorded levels. Haidt advocates for limiting smartphone and social media use among young people, especially at school.
“I spent time in our classrooms and saw kids on social media during class and playing games on their phones,” said Lalenia Quinlan Aweida, a school board member and parent of a student at Boulder’s Fairview High School. “When I walked down the hall at Fairview, I saw everyone on their phones. I don’t see them talking to each other. Yesterday, I picked up my daughter from Fairview, and all the kids sitting on the grass were looking at their phones. We can’t fix everything, but we can do something about bell-to-bell. It takes courage to do that.”
But getting kids off their phones makes many people nervous. There are concerns about storing phones, enforcement, and what to do with students who need their phones for health reasons. What about kids who need to arrange rides home or work after school?
“When my son started middle school, they were enforcing the cell phone ban,” said Nicole Rajpal, President of BVSD’s Board of Education. “The most depressing part of the day was when the bell rang because everyone picked up their phones immediately. We’re not going to solve that. I just want to be clear on why we’re considering this change, who it’s impacting, and what the studies actually say. I don’t disagree that our youth are struggling with mental health, but I’m not convinced that banning phones during passing periods and lunch will fix it. While I don’t think it’ll do any harm, I’d like to see more community engagement on this.”
The rest of the board said they felt the studies provided more than enough evidence to act. “No one’s saying banning phones will cure mental health issues,” said board member Jason Unger. “But we’re in a constrained budget environment, and here’s something that’s contributing to the problem. It costs very little, if anything, to make this change, and frankly, 99 percent of the feedback I’ve received supports stronger cell phone policies.”
Alexis Medler, who represents District 18, agreed. He said that at schools like Southern Hills Elementary and Fairview, which have already begun enforcing stricter policies, he’s only heard positive feedback. “I was talking to the new principal at Southern Hills, and she said the staff are excited to enforce the policy. It’s made their lives easier because there’s a uniform expectation for all the adults in the building to enforce it together. She hasn’t gotten much pushback from parents or students,” he said. “I keep hearing more stories from educators who are having positive experiences with more uniform enforcement, not just in our schools but nationwide. The NEA’s national survey shows how much better it is for teachers when these policies are enforced consistently.”
At the end of the discussion, the board stopped short of approving a blanket cell phone ban across all BVSD schools but voted in favor of some type of cell phone policy reform, set to begin in 2025. In the meantime, they will continue to gather input from the community.
