'The courage to take this on': Ohio leaders call on schools to ban or restrict cellphones

Erin Glynn, Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
16

DUBLIN, Ohio – Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted want Ohio schools to consider limiting or banning cellphone use by students.

At a roundtable discussion Wednesday at a Dublin City Schools campus, officials and school administrators discussed research showing cellphone use is negatively affecting students' mental health, academic performance and social well-being.

"Kids and parents are asking us to save them from themselves because the cellphones in the lives of children are becoming very addictive," Husted said. "They need a place at least for several hours a day to go and be students and have social interactions."

Daniel Buck, an editorial and policy associate with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, said the best practices for school cellphone restrictions include establishing the same rule across the school or across the district and having a set consequence so students don’t feel it’s worth the risk to keep their phones.

Buck suggested lunch detention or confiscating a student's phone and requiring that a parent pick it up at the end of the day.

Tina Husted looks to Lt. Gov. Jon Husted as he gestures with a phone as they sit at a roundtable discussion with schools from across the state to discuss how their cellphone policies have created a better learning environment for students and how other Ohio schools could implement their own policies.
Tina Husted looks to Lt. Gov. Jon Husted as he gestures with a phone as they sit at a roundtable discussion with schools from across the state to discuss how their cellphone policies have created a better learning environment for students and how other Ohio schools could implement their own policies.

Superintendents and principals from around the state said they felt it was crucial to get buy-in from their staff and from parents before implementing new policies restricting cellphones.

Dublin City Schools Superintendent Dr. John Marschhausen speaks at a roundtable discussion with schools from across the state to discuss how their cellphone policies have created a better learning environment for students and how other Ohio schools could implement their own policies.
Dublin City Schools Superintendent Dr. John Marschhausen speaks at a roundtable discussion with schools from across the state to discuss how their cellphone policies have created a better learning environment for students and how other Ohio schools could implement their own policies.

Multiple principals mentioned their school lunchrooms and hallways became more boisterous after instituting a cellphone ban as students interacted with each other more.

Holl Gover, the principal of Northmont Middle School in Clayton, Ohio, said they have changed their policy to only allow phones and smartwatches that are powered off and in a student's backpack. Gover said only one student has been suspended because of the policy and the school takes other disciplinary measures before suspension,

Other schools use Yondr, a system where students put their phones in locked pouches and unlock them with magnets at the end of the day.

Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools Superintendent Tracy Deagle said they chose not to use a locked pouch system after some parents expressed concerns about school safety and said they wanted to be able to reach their child in an emergency.

Deagle also said she believes there's a connection between student cellphone use and the teacher shortage that has impacted states across the country.

Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools Superintendent Tracy Deagle speaks during a roundtable discussion with schools from across the state.
Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools Superintendent Tracy Deagle speaks during a roundtable discussion with schools from across the state.

"I know that our staff feels safer in the classroom when they don't fear being recorded," she said. "It overall contributes to a healthy climate and culture which will contribute to getting more young people to enter the (teaching) profession."

DeWine said that he wants cellphone restrictions to be decided at the district level, but he wanted to bring more attention to the issue.

"I would just ask each school in the state to have the courage to take this on. I think that your results are going to be very, very good," he said,

Erin Glynn is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio governor wants students to stop using phones in school

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next