Ohio Considers Statewide School Phone Ban

Aybika Kamil | The Chronicle

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said he has heard from administrators, teachers and parents who are seeing remarkable results after banning phones in schools. Now he is backing legislation to make that the norm. At an April 8 press conference, DeWine voiced his support for Senate Bill 158. If passed, the bill would ban cell phone use in all Ohio public schools, excluding cases where students have an Individualized Education Program or are monitoring health concerns deemed appropriate by each school’s governing body. MHS junior AJ Adinolfi is a member of Comet Savings & Loans and has a variety of classes with differing phone usage policies. Adinolfi said he usually keeps his phone in his pocket or backpack during his classes, only taking it when he needs to communicate or participate in a learning activity. “We need our phones when we work in the bank to quickly contact people upstairs, like Ms. Donnelly, all the other advisors and employees when problems arise,” Adinolfi said. “I would say phones are a tool to an extent. In my other classes, we use our phones when we do scavenger hunts with QR codes. Sometimes when there are no calculators, I just do calculations on my phone.” Currently, teachers are required to have individual phone policies, a result of the law enacted by DeWine. Adinolfi said he feels the current situation with phones in schools is a good fit. “I would say more than 90% of students follow each classroom’s phone policies because teachers usually add an incentive,” Adinolfi said. “My AP Macro [economics] teacher, Mr. Sethi, gives you the curve for tests if you keep your phone in the classroom pouch, so I take advantage of that and put my phone in there. Most of the time, I don’t see people sneaking on their phones because teachers say they will take your phone away for the rest of the day if they see it. You don’t want that happening, so it’s not worth going on your phone.” Sponsor of the bill, Senator Jane Timken, said students are distracted by and addicted to phones and the notifications they receive. Adinolfi said claims like this can be inaccurate and should not be applied to the majority, especially considering schools like MHS with a population of approximately 4000 students. “Not every single kid is going to be addicted to their phones,” Adinolfi said. “Sure, there is a handful in each class, but you can take steps to get rid of that. I just feel like it’s an unfair assumption to say that we’re all addicted.” MHS teacher, Hope Squad advisor and football coach Brandon Sethi saw firsthand how cell phones can affect classroom dynamics, including when students are given the choice to put them away. “In my econ class around February, I found myself getting frustrated by constantly policing the phones — the games, the social media, all of those things,” Sethi said. “So I decided to buy a calculator holder and incentivize students to place their phones up. I expected about half and half to participate and was pleasantly surprised when it was closer to about 95%.” However, Sethi said a concern would be the practicality of a total ban, seeing as the Senate Bill 158 may be unrealistic. “Like anything in life, people have to learn how to navigate the distractions in front of them,” he said. “There’s good reason to have phones in school at times. I think bans in general feel short-sighted.” Considering the aftermath of a phone ban, Sethi said that technology-related distractions will not disappear. “The distraction moves from the phone to another device,” Sethi said. “Students text on their computer, play games, have social media — all those same things. But it’s easier to manage when I can say, ‘Okay, now your computers go away.’” Despite his reservations about the ban, Sethi said he is prepared to adapt if it becomes law. He said he believes students will, too. “We didn’t have cell phones, and we got home from school just fine. People did it for a long, long time,” he said. “Make a plan, stick with it, be patient. I think where so much of the struggle with phones comes from is that we are constantly on edge, waiting for that immediate answer. You send a text and you feel that anxiety of, ‘Why aren’t they answering right away?’” Experiential Learning Program (XLP) coordinator Joe Schroeder has a flexible classroom space. He said his classroom is run differently from traditional classes, in the sense that XLP is an internship made up of industry managers, career advisors and the marketing team. “[The marketing team] has posts they need to make on our Instagram or LinkedIn,” Schroeder said. “They might be affected the most. [XLP members] all have their role, job description and what they need to do. They are very much responsible for getting their work done, just like real life.” Schroeder said his group of students has not had any issues with their phones in class. He said the current policy is the most suitable one. “I still think [the policy] should be class-specific based on what I see,” Schroeder said. “I don’t see every single classroom across Mason High School, so I don’t know what the other teachers are thinking, but I would prefer to leave it as it is.” Schroeder said he has not seen too many discipline or socialization issues caused by phones at MHS. He said that if any problems come up, teachers know the students personally and can address them. “The teacher knows to work with the students to course-correct,” Schroeder said. “Students should know and be raised to know not to be playing on their phones by the teachers. I think leaving it up to teachers to kind of manage their classes, because they’re great at it, is probably a smart thing to do.” From his experience working at a company before becoming a teacher, Schroeder said he had to adapt to structural changes, which is important for students to learn. He said the ban may not teach students to correctly manage themselves in the real world. “People need to actually learn to take care, handle things or control themselves,” Schroeder said. “If you’re going to spend your whole time and your life on your phone and not learn social skills, you might not be able to get a job. I think there’s a little bit of self-discipline that needs to happen, or teaching self-discipline.” Junior Lanika Kaja takes classes in which most of her teachers enforce putting away phones. Kaja said she has observed the benefits of phone restriction, but expressed apprehension about what the Senate Bill 158 may entail. “My initial reaction was that it’s probably a good thing because sometimes I struggle when I am given a phone in class because I can get distracted by it,” Kaja said. “But now that I think about it, the cons of not having a phone in class probably outweigh the pros because of safety concerns.” Kaja said she understands why phones could also slow down the process when facing emergencies, but still would feel more comfortable having her device in the classroom. She said she likes one of her teachers’ policies, which requires putting her phone away. “My German teacher makes us put them in little boxes and the boxes go in the back of the back of the classroom,” Kaja said. “[The phone] is still in the classroom, it’s still by you, but it’s away from your desk and you can’t use it. I think that’s the best policy, because you’re not distracted by it, but it’s there in case you need it.”