On September 23, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed the Phone-Free School Act into law. The new law requires every California school district to create policies to limit cell phone use in schools by July 2026, in order to protect teen mental health.
So it appears CCHS is ahead of the curve. A new phone procedure was implemented at the start of the 2024-25 school year requiring students to put phones in a designated area when they enter the classroom. Most classrooms have a hanging organizer with numbered pockets for storing phones, while a few classrooms have a box or bank with slots that serve the same purpose.
Interestingly, the new procedure was initiated by teachers rather than administrators. Many teachers had reported that cell phones significantly disrupted their ability to teach, as they distracted students from learning. Teachers’ union representatives Cathy Grasso and Graham Lockett raised the issue with administrators last March and were asked to develop a procedure. They did so and soon presented it for a vote. They proposed the current procedure and almost every teacher voted in favor of it.
It is being referred to as a “procedure” instead of a “policy” because the official CCHS phone policy hasn’t changed. Last year the rules stated that no students were to use their phones during class time. It was widely understood that enforcement varied from teacher to teacher and was never strictly consistent. This year, the school has simply given each teacher a phone storage unit to help them enforce it. Essentially, students keeping phones in their backpacks aligns with official school district policy, but following the new CCHS procedure requires placing phones in the storage unit. Teachers still vary in how strictly they enforce the procedure, but most agree that the visual presence of the phone storage unit reduces the likelihood of phone use.
The early success of the phone policy, at least according to teachers, suggests it may become something that students at CCHS will experience for years to come. However, it has only been a semester, and its many consequences have yet to be seen. Questions arise about how the procedure will hold up over time, particularly in emergencies when immediate access to phones might be necessary but restricted by the storage units.
It’s important to note that this rule is specific to CCHS and has not yet been approved by the school board. This procedure originated from teachers making their voices heard about how they felt, and students can make their voices heard too if the new procedure causes issues for them. Since the policy was implemented quickly and with minimal student input, it is likely there is room for improvement to better address everyone’s needs.
For example, some teachers said that they were given the option of ordering lock boxes to hold phones instead of the phone pockets. They finally arrived in November for teachers who had ordered them and were using the pockets as a stand-in. English teacher Penny Marino called the lock box “flimsy” and “useless.” She tried to fit her own phone into the slots where phones are meant to be held, and it didn’t fit. There’s no way that the box could practically hold 30 iPhones some with Sonny Angels hanging off the tops.
For these reasons and more, Paige Shakeri, an Ethnic Studies and Chirons teacher, was against the new procedure. She believes that students will find a way to be on their phones no matter what because they truly are an integral part of daily life, and the best way to limit their use is to create a safe, engaging classroom environment. Some students take out their phones as a sort of defense mechanism. When a student feels uncomfortable, it can be helpful to take out a phone in order to escape from the situation. So, to decrease phone use in class, teachers should create a comfortable learning environment.
However, other teachers argue that students also take out their phones when work gets difficult as well. Mrs. Marino notices that students often turn to their phones when they need to use critical thinking to answer a question—basically when a prompt is too hard to respond to without much thought. The phone is an easy way out of answering the question, and once a student gives in to that distraction, they lose any progress they had made on their work. Marino has taught at CCHS for over 20 years, and says she has noticed the transition from students without phones to students with phones, and she sees a clear difference between then and now. Without phones, students are able to focus more.
One might argue, then, can teachers just make class more interesting so students don’t turn to their phones in the first place? Ms. Grasso, who teaches AP Environmental Science and Health, replied, “I can’t compete with TikTok.”
That leads to the greatest harm of cell phones—addiction. Social media has long been recognized as being deliberately designed to be addictive, often leading to extended periods of scrolling through short videos instead of focusing on homework or getting enough sleep. This new phone procedure aims to address this issue by helping students break the cycle of addiction and remain focused during class. However, cell phones are essential to communication in emergency situations, making accessibility critical. There is no perfect answer.
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is set to implement a new cell phone policy starting in February 2025. Under this policy, students will be prohibited from using cell phones during school hours, including lunch and breaks. All devices must be turned off and stored away throughout the instructional day. Each school will determine the specific method for storing these devices, which may include placing them in lockers, pouches, or designated areas. CCHS’s phone procedure is much more lenient than this.
All in all, we will have to wait and see how the phone policy plays out over the remainder of the school year. Most teachers have found it effective at remedying the issue of phone use, but if our procedure, hastily put together and implemented, is a viable solution remains to be seen.
