This past fall, Belmont High School piloted a policy requiring students to place their phones in cell phone holders at the start of every class period.
According to surveys conducted by the school’s administration following the fall rollout, 80% of the 87 staff respondents said the new cell phone policy is very impactful, and 72% of the 738 student and family respondents said the policy is “going well” or “going very well.”
The policy was developed last spring out of growing concern among administrators about student cell phone use in classrooms.
“It was getting to a critical point where phones were becoming such a distraction in the classroom that outweighed any potential benefit,” said Belmont High School Principal Isaac Taylor.
Making the Shift
According to Taylor, the new policy resulted in more interaction in the classroom.
“Students are talking to one another, whereas in the past, most students were heads down on their phones before class started,” he said.
Taylor said the new policy has received little resistance from students.
Survey feedback indicated that students engage more inside the classroom but students who play games are still sometimes consumed by their laptops.
“We’re taking a couple of different strategies there,” Taylor said.
He said all devices on the school network are subject to a software system that filters the content students can access.
Many teachers are also using physical materials and discussion-based activities to ensure students aren’t on their laptops for extended periods of time.
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“I think even [when] students are mirroring their phones on their computers or finding ways to get around the filtering software to play games, not having a cell phone device in front of them really minimizes the distractions compared with what they used to do,” Taylor said.
Student Experiences
School Committee student representatives Mark Guzelian and Andrew Ge said most students comply with the new policy.
“The difference that it’s made positively is much greater than the people who are still not following it,” said Guzelian, a senior. “And even if you do choose not to follow it and keep your phone on you, there’s kind of this peer pressure — positive peer pressure of no one else is on their phones.”
According to Ge, a junior, placing phones in the cell phone holder has become routine.
“I’d say the only variation I can see is just the method in which teachers enforce it; some teachers might take attendance with it … some teachers might just ask students to put it in [the holder], but I think enforcement’s happening across the board,” he said.
Both students agreed the policy strikes a balance between encouraging students to focus during class and allowing them to access their devices during their free time.
“Honestly, it’s worked much better, I think, than anyone thought it would,” Taylor said.
He credited the success of the policy to the participation of students, staff, and families.
“It feels like everyone in the community pulled together to make this work,” Taylor said.
A Statewide Push
Belmont’s policy is now joined by statewide legislation aimed at limiting students’ use of personal electronic devices at schools.
This month, Attorney General Andrea Campbell proposed the STUDY Act, which requires every district to develop formal policies regarding student use of personal electronic devices on school grounds.
Each district’s policy would be required to prohibit students’ physical access to personal electronic devices, with possible exceptions made for students who have received authorization from a school administrator, students on individualized learning plans (IEPs), and all students during emergencies.
The legislation would also require districts to develop formal policies around educating students about the possible risks and harms of social media use.
According to the bill, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) would work with the attorney general’s office and the Department of Public Health to provide guidance and recommendations to the districts to assist them with developing their policies.
More information on the bill and its current status can be found at malegislature.gov/Bills/194/SD654.
