Students are heading back to class across the Lone Star State, but the only ringing they’re likely to hear are school bells. That’s because Texas has banned all cellphones, electronic devices and wearables in the classroom.
The new law, passed during the regular legislative session earlier this year, is already in effect for this school year. And parents, educators and students have a lot of thoughts about the new rule and how it’s going to be implemented.
Kevin Brown, executive director of the Texas Association of School Administrators, said his organization did not take a formal position on this bill during the session.
“There’s not a huge consensus over the new policy,” he said. “I think that the biggest challenge that people are facing right now is the point of implementation, really trying to make sure that the law is carried out the way it’s supposed to.
“Every district had to create their own policy in terms of consequences and things. So they’re in the midst of making sure that students know what the expectations are and teachers do and that parents do.”
The law says that from the start of school bell until the end of school bell, phones and other personal communication devices are not allowed to be out and in use. But how that happens is up to individual districts and campuses, Brown said.
“It can range anywhere from people turning in their cellphones at the beginning of the day, which I think would be a huge challenge on a big campus or in a big district,” he said. “Many districts are allowing the students to keep it in their backpack throughout the day or in their locker, but they’re not allowed to bring it out during the school day.”
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Republican state Rep. Caroline Fairly, who introduced the bill at the Legislature, is 26 and said she remembers phones being a distraction in class. Brown said phones can also cause classroom management issues for teachers.
“We also see times where students are pulling out phones and videoing other students or taking photos and putting them on social media and things of that nature,” he said. “And teachers definitely feel that it can be a big distraction during class.
“Now, some teachers really use them in class and see them as a tool that can be very effective and helpful, but it is hard to manage. You’ve seen stories kind of across the spectrum of what works and what doesn’t.”
Some parents have raised complaints about the new statewide policy, especially when it comes to student safety on campus. Brown said some schools are keeping that concern in mind when writing their policies.
“In many of these districts, students will still have access to their phone in case of an emergency. I saw one school said ‘out of sight, but not out of reach.’ And that’s kind of the philosophy that they’re going with. So I think, in an emergency, students would still be able to access that,” he said.
“I will say, though, that it also complicates things. If you’re on a campus, let’s say a high school with 2,000 students, and something happens at the high school and all of a sudden you have 1,500 people texting their parents, it can create a management nightmare as well. And that becomes problematic and something to manage.”
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Brown said the administrators’ association usually supports local control when it comes to school policy, but he knows school administrators are working to follow all the laws that came out of the most recent legislative session.
“I think a lot of our members see the benefit of having at least one blanket statewide policy that they can work within to make it work locally,” he said. “I know that our school administrators are doing everything in their power to make this work well and to make adjustments.
“I’m sure some of them have taken flak. Sometimes they’re perceived as the ones that created this, they didn’t create it, but they definitely wanna make sure that it’s implemented in the way it’s supposed to be.”
