LAUSD might ban smartphones during school day (for real this time)

Los Angeles Unified School District campuses could become cellphone- and social media-free places.

The Los Angeles Unified Board will consider on Tuesday directing staff to collect feedback and create a policy that would ban student phones and social media use from bell to bell.

“I think that we can do more to monitor the school day to make sure that kids are focused, that their mental health doesn't suffer, and that they get some more time to just be with one another,” said Board Member Nick Melvoin, who authored the resolution with Board President Jackie Goldberg and member Tanya Ortiz Franklin.

The district’s current policy technically bars phone and social media use in class, but educators say even that is unevenly enforced.

A yes vote on the resolution would direct district staff to revise the existing cellphone and social media policies and present a plan to the board that could be rolled out by the time students return from winter break in January 2025.

A no vote would maintain the district’s existing policy which prohibits cell phone and social media use during class time.

LAUSD joins California’s lawmakers and those from states across the country in trying to pry students’ attention from their devices during school.

Teenagers' near-constant use of cell phones and social media belies the reality that more than three-quarters of districts already have policies to restrict non-academic cell phone use at school.

Young people are experiencing increased feelings of sadness and hopelessness, and attempting suicide more often than a decade ago. Researchers are still trying to determine how and whether the parallel increase in smartphone and social media use is connected.

On one hand, this technology offers new avenues for friendship and connection, but increased use is also tied to poorer sleep, youth gun violence, and depression and anxiety.

What district policy says about phones now

The district last revised its student cellphone policy in 2011 and its rules governing social media use in 2018.

Students are allowed to carry their devices, but they must be stored out of sight and off during school. Social media access is limited to "educational purposes" at school.

But educators say implementation of the existing policy varies from campus to campus and even from classroom-to-classroom.

“It's basically fallen to every single classroom teacher to protect their space,” said Venice High English teacher Hazel Kight Witham.

She worked with colleagues for the last year to try and implement a phone-free school policy, but was hampered, in part because of a lack of resources to store confiscated devices. Even efforts to bolster enforcement eroded as the school year went on.

School publication The Oarsman reported “some students feel nothing has changed,” in May.

“It's absolutely exhausting to try to continually stay vigilant,” Kight Witham said. “To tell students again and again the same thing, and still have it happen.”

Board member Melvoin said he’d like the district to consider investing in phone lockers or pouches that create a physical barrier between the student and their device and that it’s possible the funding could come from bonds.

“I really want it to be enforced so that it's not just an honor system,” Melvoin said. ”I don't want kids to feel the temptation or teachers to be policing it.”

The new policy would not restrict the use of district-issued tablets and computers. Families would also be notified about how to contact their child during school and in case of an emergency.

A bill recently passed in the California Assembly would require schools to adopt policies to limit student smartphone use by July 2026. Assembly Bill 3216 advanced to the state senate in late May.

Los Feliz parent Kaveri Nair said she wants her elementary-school aged son to attend a middle and high school with a strict cellphone policy in part so he learns to focus on the task at hand.

“Part of being in school is that you, like, learn to, hopefully, train your mind to sustain attention,” Nair said.

She also worries about bullying.

“I don't want this ruthless machine chewing him up, like people being cruel and ganging up,” Nair said. “It's already enough in real life, and it gets amplified so badly in social media.”

Lessons from a cellphone free middle school

Katherine Johnson STEM Academy became a “phoneless campus” in spring 2022. The school enrolls about 150 students, largely from Westchester, Playa del Rey, and Playa Vista.

“We love technology,” said Principal Kyle Hunsberger, nodding to the T in the school’s name. “But the reality is that the devices that our kids were bringing to the classroom were causing anxiety, stress—a constant FOMO of what they were missing on their devices.”

Hunsberger, who started in LAUSD as a teacher 20 years ago, said that technology has far outpaced analog classroom distractions like note-passing and paper-football.

“The challenge with the cell phone is the constant barrage of notifications that students are receiving,” Hunsberger said.

Cellphones and wireless headphones are not allowed on campus from the moment a student enters to when the school day ends. Any student who brings a phone, affixes a sticker with their name and places it in a locker at the beginning of the day. Educators confiscate any visible devices and hold them until the end of the week.

Parents who need to reach their child call the school’s main office or use the school’s digital platforms to contact educators and administrators. Those same platforms also allow the school to contact families within minutes to provide urgent updates, for example, about a lockdown at the school.

Hunsberger also shares a Google voice number that rings his cell phone to parents.

“Teachers aren't spending their time having to tell kids over and over and over to put their phones away,” Hunsberger said. “It allows students to really be focused on the academic learning.”

Hunsberger said having a district-wide policy could make it easier for other schools to follow in the Academy’s footsteps.

Weigh in on LAUSD’s technology policies

LAist wants to hear from you too. Use the box below to tell us:

• The policy at your school
• The impact of social media and cell phone use on yourself, your child or students 
• What’s important for the district to consider as they explore creating a new policy

We’ll read every response and may be in touch for an upcoming story.