HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) \u2014 Pennsylvania schools could soon be phone-free properties.<\/p>\n
The State Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would require K-12 schools to implement a bell-to-bell phone-free policy<\/a> next school year. Bell-to-bell bans generally prohibit students from using cellphones on school grounds at public and parochial schools, including during homeroom, lunch and recess.<\/p>\n Close<\/a><\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Watch for us in your inbox.<\/p>\n Subscribe Now<\/p>\n It passed nearly unanimously \u2014 just one senator voted against the bill. It now heads to the State House for consideration. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) already promised to sign it<\/a> if it makes it to his desk.<\/p>\n Lawmakers say it\u2019s elementary, a way to get students focused on what\u2019s happening in school and not on their screens. And a Midstate superintendent said it works.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually saw it at one of the times when we went out for a fire drill,\u201d said Colleen Friend, superintendent for the Carlisle Area School District. \u201cIt was very early in the school year, and kids are talking with each other at the fire drill.\u201d<\/p>\n The district implemented the ban this year. Rather than use their cellphones in class, which Friend said many of them did, students now place their phone inside of a locked \u201cphone home.\u201d<\/p>\n