Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...Many students across the Bay Area are putting smartphones away in backpacks and specialized locked pouches as part of new, phone-free school day policies known as “bell-to-bell” bans.
But in one South Bay district, officials have resisted a district-wide ban, arguing that entirely banning older students’ smartphone use doesn’t teach them how to use devices responsibly, and instead allowing them to use their phone in between classes.
In 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that required schools to limit or ban smartphone use on campuses by July of this year. Newsom has publicly expressed concerns that excessive smartphone use can increase students’ anxiety, depression and other mental health issues, as well as their ability to concentrate in class.
Unlike many districts throughout the Bay Area that chose to restrict all students’ smartphone use throughout the entire school day under the new rules, Palo Alto Unified School District chose to instead implement bell-to-bell cellphone bans at all elementary and middle schools, but allow the district’s high schoolers to use their phones in between classes.
“I believe our role as educators is to prepare students… for the world they are growing into, not to shield them from it entirely,” district board member Shana Segal said at an October board meeting to discuss the smartphone policy. “Our schools have a responsibility to teach students how to manage technology thoughtfully and appropriately.”
Former Palo Alto Unified Superintendent Don Austin, who resigned from his position earlier this year, set the district’s policy in motion when he said there are many other ways to attack the addictive nature of social media applications beyond bans or restrictions on cellular devices.
“It doesn’t make sense to restrict a personal cellular device provided by parents in school districts who provide one-to-one computers to the same students with wifi access at school,” Austin told this news organization in 2024 in response to the legislation.
Beginning this year, Palo Alto’s Henry M. Gunn High School students are required to put their phones away in storage pockets during class, but can still use their phone during lunch, free periods and breaks in between classes.
Gunn Principal Erik Olah said Palo Alto High School students are also required to follow a similar policy, and so far students have been compliant.
Palo Alto Unified’s school board voted to delay a decision on a district-wide bell-to-bell ban until 2028 in hopes of having data to consider from schools that have implemented such bans.
But proposed legislation, which recently stalled in the legislature, could still implement an outright ban on student devices in districts across the state.
A bipartisan bill, AB 1644, introduced earlier this year would require all TK-8 public schools and charter schools to adopt bell-to-bell policies prohibiting student smartphone use from the first bell in the morning until the final bell at the end of the day. A previous version of the bill also included high schools in the ban, but the bill was scaled back amid pushback from educators and school leaders.
Similar to the existing legislation, exceptions would be made for safety, health and educational purposes, including teacher permission.
If passed, the bill would force stalling districts to implement much stricter policies similar to those at Oakland Unified School District and San Jose Unified. In Oakland Unified high schools, students line up in the morning before class to place their phones in specialized, locked pouches for the entirety of the school day. Students are also not allowed to use smartwatches, earbuds or any other personal mobile technology.
The district has partnered with technology company Yondr to provide magnetic pouches which students place their phones in and then tap against a specialized sensor to seal. Once locked, students have to tap the pouch on an unlocking base in order to access their phone.
Schools with the Campbell Union High School District, San Mateo Union High School District and Santa Clara Unified School District have also partnered with Yondr to restrict student phone use.
Nidya Baez, the principal of Fremont High School in Oakland Unified, said teachers at her site requested the Yondr pouches before it became a district-wide policy because educators struggled to combat students’ phone use in the classroom.
“Students were on their phone instead of doing (class)work. Also, just the amount of FaceTiming or phone calls that kids would randomly take in class… it was interrupting some of the students’ experience,” Baez said. “The other thing is social media use. Across every district, kids are frequently sharing unhealthy content and that’s hard to monitor.”
Baez said since the phone-free policy was implemented this year, she’s noticed students connecting more with their peers and being “more joyful.” Baez said her school offers students an equipment rental at lunch where students can play outside with volleyballs or board games, and since the policy was implemented they’ve had to order more equipment for students because of the level of interest.
She said students have also had to learn to plan ahead and coordinate with their parents for appointments and after-school activities, since they don’t have their phone on them.
“Our students have been pretty positive about it, even saying things like ‘I don’t like it but I know its good for me.’ They understand the health risks…and I think that they understand it’s for their benefit,” Baez said. “It helps that everyone’s doing it across the district.”
She said parents have also been overwhelmingly supportive and grateful for the policy change, with some even requesting access to the pouches for when their child is at home.
Other districts that have cracked down on student technology use said they’ve received similar feedback from parents and students.
Cathy McSweeney, a spokesperson for San Ramon Valley Unified School District, which requires students to turn off their devices and store them in backpacks or other designated areas during class, said since the policy was implemented last year, teachers have reported a “night and day” improvement in behavior, attention and technology misuse.
The district said students also noted improved focus and had better classroom engagement and fewer “tardies.”
San Francisco Unified School District and Fremont Union High School District, which also require students to keep their phones off and away for the entirety of the school day said educators have seen an increase in student participation and engagement and have noticed students interacting with one another more.
Esmé Bautista, public information officer for San Jose Unified, said the district has seen a decrease in disciplinary issues related to cellphone use and principals are seeing students find other ways to connect and socialize, including through board games and card games, like UNO.
Although, research by the University of California Los Angeles has cautioned school leaders that limiting students’ cellphone use through bans or restrictions without providing guidance for educators on how to enforce those rules or failing to consider the benefits of technology for students’ learning and development can cause more harm than good, especially to marginalized communities.
But Mia Harradine, a 12th grade student in the San Jose Unified School District, said she’s felt more connected to her friends and better mentally since the district passed its phone-free policy last year.
“I feel like during breaks we’re more connected with our friends and present, but it’s kind of annoying in class when you have nothing to do or when you want to text your parents,” she said.
The district requires students to keep all mobile communication devices, including phones and smartwatches, turned off and put away during the school day. Implementation varies by teacher, with some allowing students to keep their devices in backpacks while others might require cubbies or other designated locations. The policy was implemented last year.
Harradine said at her high school, teachers strictly enforce the policy and if a student is caught using their phone, their device is confiscated for the rest of the day.
Harradine said she’s also “very worried” about not being able to get in touch with her parents in the case of an emergency.
San Jose Unified School District said students are allowed to use a phone or other device in an emergency, for a documented medical purpose and when a teacher permits it for an educational purpose.
Fremont High School principal Baez said Oakland Unified has incorporated its technology-free policy and Yondr pouches into routine emergency drills. But, Baez said, in the case of an actual emergency, she knows that any student with a Yondr pouch is going to figure out how to open it, although she added, in many cases, its safer for students to not have their devices when in an emergency.
“If it’s an evacuation, the last thing I need is for a kid to be on their phone,” she said. “I want them to be like, ‘okay, where’s the exit route?'”
Though Palo Alto Unified is currently bucking the trend, the issue is far from settled.
Leor Melamedov, a parent of two children in Palo Alto Unified, said she doesn’t see the benefit of her child having a phone in the case of an emergency at school. She has been a strong advocate for stricter technology policies in the district, and is a co-captain of the local chapter of Schools Beyond Screens — a national, parent-led effort to limit students’ technology use in the classroom that was founded in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
“There is no safety advantage to kids having their own cellphones,” Melamedov said. “A lot of this is just about parents’ own anxiety (and) the feeling of, ‘I can reach my kid 24/7.'”
The policy Melamedov and her allies want would mimic Los Angeles Unified School District’s “Use Technology with Intention” resolution, asking Palo Alto Unified to prohibit the use of all digital devices in TK, kindergarten and 1st grade classes, limit screen-time use for other grades, prohibit all take-home devices for all grades and ban devices for lunch, recess and passing periods for all students.
“We as a society need to take a stand on this and say, ‘the science shows that this is hurting our kids’ emotional, social and cognitive development,” she said.
But Olah said he views cellphone policies in school similar to artificial intelligence policies.
“You can’t just ban it and hope it goes away and stick your head in the sand,” Olah said. “We need to teach kids how to use it properly.”
And districts know that determined students will inevitably find a way to use their devices.
Tiffany Bouskos, a junior at Fremont High School, said while effective, blanket-wide policies that ban students phone use — like in Oakland Unified — are hard to enforce in schools with thousands of students.
“So many people find ways to get around it too,” she admitted. “There was a student that put a block of cheese in their pouch. There’s also calculators. There’s fake phones or old phones.”