Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell sat down with Northampton High School students this week, pitching her vision for cell phone-free classrooms while gathering feedback from students on whether local measures have made an impact socially and academically.
Northampton Public Schools is one of 17 Massachusetts school districts awarded a share of a $625,000 state grant aimed at funding initiatives to get cell phones out of the classroom.
This year, Northampton High School instituted phone-free measures using 'Yondr' pouches — a magnetic bag that students lock their phone in during the school day. The grant funding will expand that program, train teachers on best practices, and fund analysis on how it's influencing academic success.
Campbell said cell phones are a major distraction to student learning, and undercut the efforts of educators while amplifying youth mental health issues through the mechanism of social media.
"This isn't about penalizing young people," Campbell said. "It really is about creating a culture shift and a different environment for better learning."
At a roundtable discussion with the attorney general and members of her office, several Northampton High students praised the phone-free classroom measures, and said they've led to a more socially vibrant school day. Senior Henry Daggett said students are connecting with each other more.
"If you were to walk into a cafeteria last year at lunch, it would just be a bunch of people scrolling, or playing a game and everyone kind of looking down," Daggett said. "And now when you walk in this year everyone is looking up at each other."
Daggett said he wished the cell phone regulations had been enacted earlier.
"It really would have helped everyone come and get to know each other better early on," he said.
The students noted that phone ban enforcement was inconsistent, often varying from classroom to classroom. While students are not mandated to put their phone in a Yondr pouch, senior Catherine Peters said there's enough participation in the program to stymie phone use overall.
"Though definitely not everybody actually uses their pouches, the existence of the pouches it's assumed your phone should be in makes it a lot harder to use your phone," she said.
It's not immediately clear whether the anti-cell phone measures have materially contributed to stronger academic performance from students — that's something the state is hoping to get a better sense of through this grant program. But junior Alex Montague told state officials she's seen her peers become more focused during free periods without the distraction of their phones.
"People have had more academic success, with them using their flex blocks to actually re-test and start focusing more where they used to use their phone a lot," Montague said.
Campbell asked students if they had experienced pushback from their parents due to not having cell phone during the school day — referencing a common criticism of phone bans: that they prevent parents from reaching their children in the case of an emergency. Daggett said his parents have been supportive of phone-free school days, and dismissed the idea he is less safe without a cell phone.
"I know that when I go to school, they are going to do their best to protect me," he said. "And the difference in me being able to communicate with an adult is kind of minuscule when it comes to that. I think a lot of people are understanding like that, they trust the school enough to be able to communicate."
The grant award comes as full-scale legislation to regulate cell phone use in schools continues to work its way through the Massachusetts legislature. Measures have passed the state House and Senate, but have since languished in conference committee as lawmakers hash out differences in their proposals. Campbell called on the legislature to expedite that process, and create a blanket state-level policy to guide schools.
"The legislature plays a critical role here too," Campbell said. "And we hope that they will act quickly and send legislation to the governor's desk that will allow every school district in Massachusetts to have phone free and distraction free learning environments."