Oliver Johnson
The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted Tuesday to ban student cellphone use on campuses during school hours, joining a growing number of school boards take such steps and become the largest district in the US to do so.
The aim of the ban is to prevent the potentially negative impact that phones have on students’ mental health and wellbeing.
The vote, however, does not automatically mean the ban will be implemented, as the team is still consulting with stakeholders and experts before the details are ironed out.
“The no-phone school policy says that from the time students enter class until the end of the day, they should not have their phones on them,” said LAUSD board member Nick Melvoin. “Let’s get kids interacting with each other, free from the distractions that we know are harming their mental health and their studies.”
The board resolution for the nation’s second-largest school district cites research that suggests students have less meaningful interactions with classmates and are less likely to learn when they are overly engaged with their phones.
“Research indicates that excessive cell phone use affects adolescent mental health and well-being and is associated with increased stress, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, feelings of aggression and suicidal thoughts,” said Order of the Day of Tuesday’s meeting.
The referenced proposal other prohibitions that have been implemented, including in Florida, where public schools began blocking student cellphone use during class time and banned access to social media while using district WiFi in 2023. Since then, districts in Oklahoma, Kansas, Vermont, Ohio, Louisiana and Pennsylvania have adopted similar restrictions, as per the LAUSD resolution.
Over the next four months, the district will develop a set of policies for social media and cell phone use during school hours on all LAUSD campuses. The new policy would come into effect in early 2025.
Some parents spoke out against the ban, stressing that they would prefer their children to have access to their phones in case of an emergency.
“They should have it for protection when they leave the school campus,” said Regina Schoetz, an LAUSD parent who said she partially agreed with the motion but didn’t think the final decision should fall to the district.
“I don’t think there should be a big ban on [cellphones] or lock them up,” she said. “I think it’s up to the parents.”
Melvoin says the last update to the cell phone policy was implemented in 2011 and only calls for no phones during class time.
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