Grundy County educators seek solutions for cell phone use in the classroom

Restrictions on cellphone use in schools have increased in the past year nationally, as some educators see them as distractions to learning and studies indicate the negative impact of social media on youth as phone use rises.

In the past year, 10 states, including Indiana, have passed legislation regarding cellphones in the classroom. Other states banning cellphones in the classroom include Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana, while Alabama strongly encourages every school district to set a policy.

In a recent study, 77% of schools in the U.S. say they restrict cellphones outside academic use, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Morris Community High School Superintendent Craig Ortiz said he hears from teachers constantly having issues with students using cell phones during lessons.

“It’s been a hot topic for us, and I know it has been for a lot of schools,” Ortiz said. “We have a long-standing policy that students should only use cell phones in class at the discretion of their teacher.”

This policy was created, however, during a time when teachers were using cell phones for parts of their lessons: Teachers could use them for polls or interactive presentations. Cell phones aren’t necessary for that anymore since Morris High School is one-to-one on technology, meaning every student has a Chromebook.

Ortiz said even back in the day, teachers thought phone use was a mixed bag as far as usefulness. Some teachers would ask students to look up information online while others are well within their right to tell kids they can’t have their phones out at all.

“The problem is some of them, for whatever reason, don’t do that or don’t consistently do that,” Ortiz said. “It’s made it hard building-wide, and I think we have more teachers who would like a building-wide prohibition.”

By building-wide, Ortiz said he means classrooms. He doesn’t think there’s a need to worry about cell phone use in the hallway or in the cafeteria.

“There’s a lot of social media use, negative use or just being off task, and it’s not even that they’re doing anything wildly inappropriate,” Ortiz said. “It’s just texting people they shouldn’t instead of focusing on their work. We’re in that awkward place of needing teachers to own that and know we’re going to support them administratively if they send a kid to the office.”

If teachers aren’t taking phones away or sending students to the office, Ortiz said it’s harder for the administration to enforce anything like a school-wide policy.

Morris Community High School English teacher Aimee Costello believes students should have to put their phones in pouches similar to the ones used for comedy shows at the Rialto Theatre in Joliet. Members of the audience are given pouches to keep their phones in that can’t be opened until they leave the show.

Costello said it’s not even bullying or Snapchats that she’s most worried about: Students are often texting or Snapchatting their parents. Some parents, Costello said, will call their child in the middle of class.

The issue, Costello said, is the number of distractions the kids face. She did a test with the students where they place their phones on their desk and watch how many times they get a notification. Some students are getting over 100 in a single class period.

“It takes your attention constantly,” Costello said. “I think the only way it would work, and a big thing I want to emphasize, is schools have cell phone policies. We’ve had one for years, students know they’ll get in trouble, and we’ll take your phone and send you to the office or whatever, but it’s so hard to enforce when you have 50 minutes with 30 kids.”

Costello said a teacher could spend 15 minutes trying to get the kids corralled, and the backlash can be crazy.

“They’re addicted, like we all are,” Costello said.

Students aren’t the only group of people addicted to their cell phones, and school may be the only place they’re having them taken away. Costello said some parents might have rules about having the phone put away at dinner, but that’s very rare.

Costello said the administration backs teachers up and provides a consequence, but the students still sit there with their phones out again and again.

“I worry about workplace readiness for kids because we’re all that way without our phones to some extent,” Ortiz said. “With my line of work, I can’t put my phone on silent when I go to bed at night. I have to have access, but there are still sometimes when I go to meetings or interview teachers, I have to have my phone away and on silent.”

Coal City

One school that’s already enacted the pouches policy is Coal City Unit 1, a preschool-through-12th grade district. It’s had the policy in place for nearly five years, and phones are kept in a pouch visible to students in the classroom. They’re visible and accessible in case of emergency.

Superintendent Chris Spencer said the policy is working so far, and he doesn’t see a future where the policy changes, though some teachers have had problems with students not playing by the rules.

“It’s embedded in what we do now, and I think parents understand that,” Spencer said. “Students can get to their phone if they need to.”

Ortiz and Spencer said part of the issue is the person some of these students are texting are their parents.

“There are some parents who want their kids connected every second of the day so that if, God forbid, there were an emergency, they can get ahold of them,” Ortiz said. “The problem with that, and we rehearse this with police and when we drill, is in a real emergency we don’t want our kids communicating with other people because it jams up communications with emergency personnel. I know that’s counter to what some people want, but the last thing you want is everyone on their phone.”

While most Joliet area school districts have compiled policies limiting phone usage on campus, these same districts are not moving to outright ban students from having phones in their possession. And there are no planned updates or changes to any of these districts’ policies for the 2024-25 school year.

Joliet

Joliet Township High School District 204 personal electronics policy explicitly allows for students to carry phones and devices including smart watches and handheld games at school and use them with staff permission, provided they are not used “in any manner that interrupts the educational environment” including sending text messages or cheating.

The district handbook notes that devices “may be reviewed for content” and that their use is banned in locker rooms and bathrooms.

Joliet District 86 is the largest elementary school district in the Joliet area.

“Since we are a pre-K through eighth grade district student cell phone use is restricted in our schools,” said District 86 Director of Communications Sandy Zalewski. “Phones must be kept in backpacks and/or lockers during the day. Cell phones are taken from the students and parents have to pick them up in the office if they are used during class.”