California lawmakers approve school phone restrictions

Students use their cellphones after unlocking the pouches that secure them from use.

Aug. 28, 2024 Updated 6:10 PM PT

At Dymally High School in South Los Angeles, test scores are slightly up, fights are down and teachers can better focus on instruction — and Principal Darvina Bradley credits her campus cellphone ban.

“What was the biggest shock and surprise for me was we actually had to begin putting out games and things to entertain them at lunch, because they really became kids again,” Bradley said. “We heard conversations occurring again, lunchtime was no longer quiet — it became a real schoolyard with real activity.”

This scene is one California lawmakers are hoping to replicate with their approval of statewide school cellphone restrictions Wednesday.

The Phone-Free Schools Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Assemblyman Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), sailed through the Legislature and requires all public schools to devise a policy by July 1, 2026, to limit or prohibit smartphones during the school day. It would force distracted, smartphone-obsessed students to do something many haven’t been willing to do on their own: Put their phones away in class.

The legislation is expected to be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who urged educators as the academic year began to enact restrictions, citing the “mental health, scholastic, and social risks” of phone use in classrooms. California would be the fifth state to require school districts to limit students’ phone usage, joining Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia.

A last-minute amendment to the bill allows schools to use “enforcement mechanisms” to limit smartphone access, such as in-class lockers and individual locking pouches. The bill also includes a few exceptions — schools cannot prohibit students from using phones for individualized instruction, medical necessity and in emergencies. A teacher or administrator can also grant permission.

“We’re working under the assumption schools are going to be reasonable and responsive to legitimate parental concerns about being able to contact their kids in the aftermath of an emergency,” said Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), a co-author of the bill. The proposed law does not include details on what constitutes an emergency, leaving it to schools to decide.

Los Angeles Unified is moving sooner to enact an all-day ban in January, and drafting of the rules is underway.

A smattering of schools throughout Los Angeles have already enacted bans and restrictions but find they’re tough to enforce. Their experiences — the advantages, difficulty in enforcement and how students find ways around the rules — offer a window into the future.

Dymally High School

Bradley didn’t sugarcoat how hard it was to enact the ban in January 2020 and again when classes resumed after pandemic closures at Mervyn M. Dymally High School. During community meetings, the principal said, she tried to explain to parents and students why the ban was necessary — to combat classroom distractions and curb the “dire” situation with campus fights that were mainly organized via cellphones.

The school spent about $12,000 for 750 magnetic Yondr pouches. Students place their phone in the pouch and lock it under supervision as they enter campus. The pouch is opened with a special magnet release when they leave at the end of the day. School policy states that if a student is caught with a phone, parents have a 30-minute window to pick it up after school.

For parents who told their kids not to follow the rules, Bradley said she was blunt:

“Would you prefer that we make sure that your child is safe and we take care and do everything for them?” Bradley asked. “Your child may do the right thing but another child may not, and they may call up a whole bunch of people up here to jump on one child. What would you prefer?”

Usually, she said, they would prefer a ban on cellphones.

For students, the approach was different. Tenth- and 11th-grade teacher Maria David said students must understand the consequences of breaking the rule.

“It’s either you pass the class or you use your cellphone and not pass the class,” David said. “They whine … but whether they like it or not, if the administration is really very strict on implementing the Yondr pouch, they can’t do anything about it.”

Rather than making teachers enforce the policy, the school lets them call the office if a student is using a phone, and a campus aide will confiscate it.

“I don’t want to fight with a student, right? It’s hard. It will ruin your class,” David said.

If teachers, administrators or staff don’t consistently enforce the restrictions, however, progress can quickly evaporate, David added.

Restorative justice teacher Dominique Street said that while a majority of students follow the rules, some have found ways around the them, such as breaking into the pouches and replacing their phones with cardboard cutouts. David and former Dymally teacher Ryan Quinn said students have brought multiple phones to school or bought their own magnet to unlock the pouch — and some even charge other students to use it.

While Yondr CEO Graham Dugoni said the company is continuously improving the “durability” of its pouches, he noted that schools will inevitably “struggle with student compliance” in lieu of strong enforcement.

Despite the challenges, Bradley said Dymally was glad to be “leading the pack,” adding that nearby schools have followed.

Dorsey Senior High

Susan Miller Dorsey Senior High Principal Orlando Johnson brought the issue to a vote during the 2022-23 school year. Parents were “overwhelmingly in support” of a cellphone ban. The student council was not. Their compromise? Classroom phone lockers.

Students can bring their phones to school but must lock them in a clear compartment once they enter the classroom and keep the key until the end of class. This way, Johnson said, students still have access to their phone on their “own time” — nutrition, lunch, and passing periods — but are not distracted in class.

“We wanted to reiterate to the students that we don’t want your cellphone,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to prepare kids to be adults… so it’s important to teach the kids how to manage their usage of their cellphone.”

Trinidad Menchu, who was a senior last year at Dorsey, recalled an assembly where the school explained how and why the lockers would be used in classrooms. But she said it was rare for 12th-grade teachers to use the lockers, opting instead to give their students “freedom” to make the decision for themselves. In those classes, phones remained a big distraction, she said.

Their government and economics class, however, was a different story. When Menchu entered the class, teacher and football coach Irvin Davis was adamant about locking cellphones away, explaining that he wants them to get the most out of their education. And they listened.

“You wouldn’t see a phone on site,” Menchu said. “Everybody just respected that teacher … because he teaches so honestly. You can tell when a teacher wants the best for their students.”

Davis said that once students become accustomed to the routine of locking their phones away during class time, it’s “really not that difficult.” The caveat? Teachers have to pair the policy with culturally relevant lessons that engage students and keep their attention.

Johnson, the principal, agreed that while every classroom has a locker, enforcement varies from teacher to teacher. Should they choose to enforce the ban, they won’t have to do it alone.

Though it’s still a work in progress, Johnson and Menchu agree that classrooms using the lockers have seen much higher student engagement — the first step on the school’s mission to raise test scores and the number of students who qualify for college.

Girls Academic Leadership Academy

Girls Academic Leadership Academy in Mid-City, the only all-girls public school in the district, enacted a cellphone ban when the campus opened in 2016. Serving sixth through 12th graders, the school requires students to keep their phones off and in their backpack all day — a rule that has become ingrained in the school culture.

Principal Liz Ackerman-Hicks said the ban was uniquely important for teenage girls.

“We looked [at] a lot of early research and saw, particularly with girls ... the level of depression and anxiety, and how especially being on social media could lead to low self-esteem,” Ackerman-Hicks said.

A 2022 Pew Research study of teens’ social media use found that girls 15 to 17 are most likely to be cyberbullied. This year, Ackerman-Hicks said they extended the policy to ban phone use on campus before and after school in an attempt to combat this.

Ackerman-Hicks said students have even gone a step further. Coming back from the pandemic, the student council implemented its own screen-free lunches to combat reliance on Chromebooks.

While the policy isn’t perfect — parents still try contact their kids in the middle of class — several students said they rarely see others on their phones. They are typically only used for educational purposes, such as taking pictures of class slides, filming telenovelas for Spanish class and checking their weightlifting form in P.E..

GALA is still trying to figure out how to best to handle phone use during emergencies.

“It is scary when you’re closing the doors and locking down,” Ackerman-Hicks said. But “in an emergency, things are happening so quickly that taking the time to text or having the blue light of the phone is not going to help. ... you may have missed really important instructions.”

Sadie Hoodenpyle — a 12th-grader who has been through three campus lockdowns — said the idea that students shouldn’t be able to use their phones in emergencies is “a little out of touch.” Her first instinct, she said, is to text her sister Piper — who also attends GALA — and make sure she is OK. Then she lets her parents know she is OK, a convenience that their mom, Skye Peyton, described as a double-edged sword.

“I felt like I was hopefully able to give them some support and make them feel better in a bad situation, just by being there and being able to hear their concerns,” Peyton said. “But for me personally, it was very stressful. … There’s nothing I can do except worry.”

As district and statewide rulings come down, it will be up to individual schools to decide what’s best for their students.