Class is back in session at OUSD schools this week, with one notable change: A strict phone-free policy. 

KQED’s Katie DeBenedetti explains how a statewide mandate has pushed districts across the Bay to pass their own policies banning or restricting phones, and how it’s playing out in Oakland. 

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Episode transcript

This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz-Gavarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. I remember about a year ago, I walked into a high school classroom and I was so shocked to find students with AirPods in, phones out on the desks, like so explicitly out. High school me could have never imagined that becoming the norm. But now, phone-free policies at schools have made a comeback. Oakland Unified has banned phones in schools across all grade levels. And districts across the state are banning or limiting phones as well.

Gabriel Khan: [00:00:44] Although it’s not a silver bullet, I think it is like a necessary condition for a focused classroom that phones are not stealing young people’s attention.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:54] Today, California’s push towards phone-free schools and what that looks like in Oakland.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:08] So Katie, it’s the first week of school for Oakland Unified School District students and they came to school with a brand new cell phone policy. Oh, what is it exactly?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:01:20] When kids walked into school on Monday, one of the first things that will now be part of every morning is putting their phones away for the whole day.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:30] Katie DeBenedetti is a reporter for KQED.

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:01:34] That varies by school site, but in most elementary schools, they’ll have a lock box at the front of their classroom, and they’ll to put their phones in it for the day. And then in middle schools and high schools, they are going to be issued these pouches called Yondr pouches. They’re like canvas bags with a magnet at the top that locks during the day, their first period teacher, at least last year during the pilot phase was the person that kind of went around and made sure everyone. Had their pouch closed with their phone in it at the beginning of the day.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:02:08] This is something that is happening at other Bay Area schools in a bunch of different ways as well. Why is this happening? Why are we seeing this sort of wave of no phone policy that schools happening across California?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:02:21] In 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Phone Free School Act, which basically requires all school districts to restrict or prohibit cell phone use, and that went into effect this July. The reasoning behind that was there was research showing that less phones was better for learning, better for attention, and also for kids’ mental health. So… OUSD’s ban is on the stricter side. They’re gonna be a bell-to-bell ban for all students, but you’re right, a lot of Bay Area districts are adopting similar policies. The San Mateo Foster City School District has been using yonder pouches for a couple years, actually, and a couple of high schools on the peninsula have as well. Up in Marin and Tamm Unified School District, they’re introducing a very similar lockable box that are individual for students. And then there are a lot of other districts that don’t have these full bans. So San Francisco actually voted to kind of keep their existing cell phone policy, which is just that mobile communication devices have to be turned off, have to put away during instructional time and passing periods. A lot of Bay Area districts have also put in place these like similar less restrictive rules, though they vary.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:03:40] And you mentioned OUSD has one of the more stricter phone policies. What was their rationale behind this specific cell phone band that they went for with these Yondr pouches?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:03:52] Yeah, so when administrators were explaining why, you know, full ban versus partial van, they said it’s first of all just for consistency. You know, it’s a little bit easier for kids to understand.

Denise Saddler: [00:04:03] We want our students to be focused on learning in the classroom.

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:04:08] Here’s what Superintendent Denise Saddler had to say about the phone policy. That was a clip from ABC 7.

Denise Saddler: [00:04:15] We also see this policy as a way to deal with some of the social media issues that come up, particularly in middle and high school, quite frankly, you know, bullying and some of the issues that have caused challenges for our students.

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:04:30] Also, it kind of keeps people interacting during passing periods, during lunch, connecting face-to-face throughout the school day, and it eliminates distractions. Even if you see a text while you’re heading to class or at the lunch table, you might be still thinking about it when you’re in class wondering, am I gonna be able to respond again? But if you just wait until after school to see it to begin with, it’s supposed to be less distracting.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:04:56] What has the reaction been from students and parents at OUSD so far?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:05:01] I think it’s been somewhat mixed. I think, you know, parents on the first day of school kind of told us that they’re happy that their kids will hopefully be less distracted. What are your thoughts on this new no cell phone policy? One parent, Chris Connolly, spoke with our colleague Farida Jabvala-Romero on the first day at school.

Chris Connolly: [00:05:21] Personally, I am quite happy about it. I think it will be great for the kids, especially the high schoolers, who can easily be distracted by phones all day.

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:05:33] Some of them did have some safety concerns and that was really echoed by a student I talked to, Blake Rodgers. She’s an Oakland Tech senior. I do understand.

Blake Rodgers: [00:05:43] I understand that phones create distractions in classrooms, but I do think that the safety issues that have been like pretty prevalent recently outweigh that goal.

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:05:58] She went to Skyline High School last year where there was a shooting on campus in the fall and she says it’s scary to think about not having access to her phone if something like that happens again.

Blake Rodgers: [00:06:10] Its really hard to get in contact with people, even with your phone, because we’re not always sure what’s going on without a phone. I think people will be completely left in the dark and that is a scary thing to be in.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:06:25] That is kind of interesting and also a little chilling that sort of the main concern that you’re hearing against these bands is this idea of safety. And I have to imagine like school shootings are probably also top of mind for folks as well. How does OUSD respond to that criticism?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:06:44] Yeah, so as part of the rule, OUSD says that students will be able to access their phones if there’s a genuine health or safety emergency or if a teacher or administrator or doctor authorizes it. So there are exceptions in emergencies. And also, administrators have said that the ban could actually help reduce misinformation spread during emergencies or even prevent conflict escalation that could be happening on social media or group messaging. So I think it could go, you know, a couple different ways.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:07:26] We’ll have more with KQED’s Katie DiBenedetti right after this break. By the way, if you appreciate the local deep dives that we bring you on the bay, consider becoming a KQED sustaining member. Sustaining members really are the backbone of what we do here at KQED. Just go to donate.kqed.org slash podcasts. And thank you so much. We’ll be right back.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:08:01] I mean, the reaction seems a little mixed, but I just have to imagine it’s overall, maybe a good thing that kids don’t have access to their phones at schools, maybe. I mean do we know whether bands like these actually work?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:08:17] The research is pretty new because a lot of these bans are just in the last couple of years. But one of the biggest studies that’s come out so far showed that schools that had these strict bans noticed a decrease in student phone use. But they haven’t seen all of the behavioral or academic results that they had kind of hoped for. So in some cases, suspensions actually went up in the immediate period after the ban. Test scores haven’t, you know, had a mark. Improvement. But again, these are still pretty new and teachers at least in Oakland seem pretty excited about it.

Gabriel Khan: [00:08:55] Phones are engineered to take people’s attention and specifically young people’s intention. And so they really have no place in a focused classroom.

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:09:04] I talked to Gabriel Kahn, who teaches at Life Academy, and he said he and his colleagues have been really impressed. They’re noticing students are more attentive, they’re less distracted. One thing that he said that was funny to me is they’re using the bathroom a lot less.

Gabriel Khan: [00:09:21] I would say bathroom use decreased in my classroom by 80%.

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:09:26] Because I guess that’s one of those places where teachers can’t be watching, so kids would often take their phone to the bathroom for a break.

Gabriel Khan: [00:09:35] We do a pretty good job of making sure kids aren’t on their phones in the room, but when they go to the bathroom, it’s an unmonitored space, and if their phone isn’t put away in a yonder pouch, you can best believe that they’re on their phone when they take their bathroom break. I believe there’s a direct correlation between our instigating the yonderpouch policy and the massive decrease in bathroom use that we saw because there was no phone motivation to go to bathroom.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:10:04] I feel like adults banning something doesn’t always mean that that thing fully goes away. There’s often ways that young people will find work around. Have we seen anything like that when it comes to this no phone policy at schools?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:10:19] Yeah, that’s definitely something I was curious about, and it did not take me long to find how students are getting around these bands.

Tik Tok: [00:10:27] Alright guys so I just got back from school and guess what they’re making us put our phones in these little pouches right here.

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:10:36] You know, I just did a quick TikTok search and found that kids are already sharing ways to open their pouches.

Tik Tok: [00:10:43] So today, we’re gonna be making a tutorial so everybody can have their phone at school. Everybody and their mom’s gonna have their phones, all right?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:10:51] One of them involves sticking two pencils on the sides of the magnet and like banging the pouch against something hard. And that has like a million views. So kids are learning pretty quickly how to get around these rules.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:06] The irony of that also, of them recording themselves doing this.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:13] How does this compare to your experience with your phone in high school?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:11:17] There were really no restrictions on it. Our school blocked like certain apps, but even then we knew how to get around that, VPN apps, whatever. So I think it’s a familiar sight to see. Yeah, totally.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:31] Well, Katie, the school year is I guess just starting and we’ll have to kind of see how this goes, but what big questions are you thinking about around these bands going forward?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:11:42] Yeah, I mean, I’m definitely interested to see, you know, how many kids are able to kind of get around the bands. But I’m also excited to see after a couple years, if there is any effect on test scores on how much students are learning and mental health. I think that would be really interesting to see if it really is better for kids not to be staring down at their screens during lunch.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:12:07] Yeah and I don’t know, maybe one day our classrooms will go back to like pen and paper?

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:12:13] We have the option, we have all the tools to do that, so we’ll see.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:12:20] Well, Katie, thank you so much for chatting with me about this. Appreciate it.

Katie DeBenedetti: [00:12:24] Thanks so much.

Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.