Editorial: School cellphone ban — It’s about time

The Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners just voted unanimously to adopt new stricter guidelines on cellphones that essentially require students to keep them turned off in the lockers or other storage areas and be allowed to use them only in episode of crisis and even then only with the express permission of a school administrator Even teachers and staff will be expected to curb their use of cellphones during the school day The agenda will go into full effect during the next school year One obvious question arises from this decision What took them so long Oh we ve heard the pros and cons of cellphones in trainee hands for years They are after all essentially powerful handheld computers and so could theoretically be incorporated in learning In specific schools the devices are so commonplace that asking an entire class to research a classroom assignment by way of cellphone is not far-fetched And then there s the matter of communication and staying in touch with parents and guardians A change in the pickup schedule After-school events altered How convenient to be a text away The reality unfortunately is often quite different Not only are cellphones a major source of distraction in school but they enable all sorts of destructive behavior including bullying Why are your classmates snickering over at that nearby lunchroom table and perhaps looking up from their phones to eyeball you Too bad you re not on their messaging app or maybe you ll find out after the ridicule and perhaps video has bounced around school all day Small wonder that a nationwide survey of teachers last year by the National Guidance Association determined advocacy a cellphone ban during class time and would favor one during the entire school day which is what the city school system just did along with a growing number of its peers Teachers and individual schools may already have the authority to restrict cellphone use in classrooms or whole schools but how much better to set a standard system-wide Indeed a growing number of states are adopting this broader approach Development Week now counts states that either outright impose school cellphone restrictions statewide recommend them to local districts or perhaps offer incentives for systems to pass tougher limits In January Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell introduced the EVALUATION Act promoting Safe Hardware Use and Distraction-free guidance for Youth The bill aims to implement a bell-to-bell restriction on access to cell phones and personal electronic devices during school hours We can only hope parents and guardians are paying attention Mental wellness professionals are increasingly concerned about how widespread use of cellphones can harm a child s rise particularly in the teen years and especially with the use of social media platforms Schools ought not be the only place where particular reasonable boundaries are drawn Spending four five six or more hours a day on screens just isn t a good idea and parents worried about being overprotective may have in the matter of their kid s iPhone fallen into a distinctly under-protective trap The Baltimore Sun Tribune News Function Editorial cartoon by Al Goodwyn Creators Syndicate