CA scales back plan to ban students from using cellphones

from Carolyn JonesCalMatters

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Until last month, California was poised to join nearly a dozen other states in banning cellphones in K-12 schools. But under pressure from school boards and administrators, lawmakers scaled back a bill that would have called for such a blanket ban.

“I was disappointed, but I’m taking the long view on this,” said Torrance Democratic Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, the bill’s author. “There is still growing global concern that excessive use of mobile phones is having a harmful impact on students.”

the account AB 1644is based on existing law in California which requires schools to limit, if not outright ban, cell phone use by students during the school day. A numerous studies have shown that cell phone use is a serious distraction for students, affecting their mental health, social-emotional development, and ability to concentrate in class.

Confusing and unnecessary legislation?

Muratsuchi’s bill would require all schools to draft policies prohibiting students from using cell phones while on campus or on a school trip. School board groups and school administrators opposed the bill because they said the one-size-fits-all policy undermines the ability of districts to make their own rules suited to their own specific student needs.

They also argued that the bill conflicts with existing law that requires schools to come up with policies restricting cell phones on campus. These policies are due to take effect in July. Having two laws on the issue would be confusing for school staff and could invalidate policies they’ve already worked on, they said.

“AB 1644 creates ‘realignment’ just one year (after the passage of the previous law), creating unnecessary frustration and confusion,” the California Association of School Administrators wrote to the Assembly Education Committee.

In response to these complaints, lawmakers removed high schools from the ban.

Results in Contra Costa and Los Angeles

Many California school districts, including Los Angeles Unified, have already banned cell phones. A recent study has cast doubt on whether cell phone bans have any effect on test scores, attendance or other measures of student success, but individual districts say the policies have made a difference.

Mount Diablo Unified, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Contra Costa County, has seen improvements since the cell phone ban. In a presentation to the school boardteachers said students were more focused in the classroom, had more lively discussions and conversations, argued less and didn’t get “freaked out” by social media posts.

At Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, reports bullying is down 33% and bullying is down 50% since the district banned cell phones.

The only complaints, according to the presentation, were that students did not have access to their phone cameras to take pictures of assignments and that locking students’ phones cut into classroom time. The report’s authors also said some students found ways around the ban.

“All These Zombies”

Rishaan Marwaha, a high school freshman from Newport Beach, was so tired of cellphones that he testified at an Assembly Education Committee hearing last month to urge lawmakers to pass AB 1644.

“Tech companies are making all this money off of college students’ phone addiction,” he said. “It’s not a fair fight because students are a vulnerable group…School should be a place to learn.”

Marwaha said he himself is addicted to the phone. He spent hours scrolling through Instagram feeds “when I could be doing things I really enjoy, like playing basketball or going to the gym.”

He eventually removed Instagram from his phone, but saw his classmates suffering from the same addiction.

“I was walking through school and I felt like all these zombies,” he said. “Some people were so addicted they would make excuses to go to the bathroom just so they could look at their phones.”

He was disappointed the bill was watered down, but hopes the state will implement a high school cell phone ban at some point. After all, he said, “in the past people got by without cellphones, fine. I think we’ll be fine.”

This is Muratsuchi’s third bill related to schools and cellphones, every inch closer to a total ban. The previous two cellphone-related bills were passed into law, and he believes this one will also pass as amended.

“I hope this is part of an ongoing movement to recognize that technology can provide both benefits and harms,” ​​Muratsuchi said. candidate for superintendent of schools in California. “We need to have responsible regulations to make sure we’re helping students navigate technology successfully.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.