{"id":72851,"date":"2025-12-29T16:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T16:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/72851\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T16:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T16:40:09","slug":"pennsylvania-lawmakers-look-to-ban-cellphone-use-in-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/72851\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania lawmakers look to ban cellphone use in classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers in Harrisburg are close to making classrooms statewide cellphone free.<\/p>\n

The state Senate Education Committee advanced a bill requiring that public schools adopt policies prohibiting cellphone use during the school day.<\/p>\n

It allows exceptions for students who have a medical condition, individualized education plan, English language learners, or if a student is asked to use a cellphone by a teacher with the approval of a building principal.<\/p>\n

Districts would be required to adopt the policies no later than the start of the 2027-28 school year.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania currently does not ban cellphone use during the school day. Across Northeast Pennsylvania, schools take various approaches<\/a> to phone use by students in their buildings, ranging from students not being allowed to use them at all during the school day, to cellphones being allowed only during certain times of the day, to allowing their use in classrooms at the discretion of the teacher. Many schools require that students place their phones in a pouch or container.\n<\/p>\n

Several superintendents contacted this month said they support good legislation but questioned how some aspects of the bill could be enacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you talk about a ban on cellphones, are they talking about that in a manner consistent with what we do at Abington Heights and what other districts do, or are you talking about an outright ban, when you say kids can\u2019t bring phones to school?\u201d Abington Heights Superintendent Christopher Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

Shaffer said he supports school boards having autonomy because communities have differing needs.<\/p>\n

Wyoming Area School District Superintendent Jon Pollard supports the legislation but wants it to provide specifics in its definition of a ban. He also said lawmakers should provide funding for districts to enact cellphone bans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spirit of the law and the letter of the law do not always equal what they want to have happen, so I think that this legislation would need to have a little bit more specifics to it about what a ban means and what kind of processes the district would need to implement to have that ban be in place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Officials began requiring students at Wyoming Area Secondary Center to lock their phones<\/a> in a pouch each day at the start of the school year. Pollard said the district was able to purchase 1,200 pouches using around $35,000 it received from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. He said while the district was able to purchase the pouches, he isn\u2019t sure other districts are able to make purchases to enable them to ban cellphones.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is something that they\u2019re looking for that hard, reduce the gray-area ban, then they need to follow through with some funding for districts,\u201d Pollard said.<\/p>\n

Students at Abington Heights are required to put their phones in a carrier at the start of class and retrieve them when they leave. Shaffer said he doesn\u2019t see bringing cellphones to school as a bad thing but doesn\u2019t believe they should be in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, I think it would be very challenging to do a ban where you prohibited kids from bringing phones to school,\u201d he said. \u201cWe as educators need to work with our families and our students on how to best utilize the technology in a manner that\u2019s effective and at the same time respectful of that educational space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hazleton Area School District Superintendent Brian Uplinger said in an email Wednesday he believes the intent of the legislation is positive but thinks it needs to allow districts flexibility in implementing their own policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all recognize that cellphones can be a major distraction in the classroom and can impact both academic performance and student well-being,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the same time, I believe local districts need flexibility in how these policies are implemented. Every community is different, and what works in one district may not work in another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uplinger also hopes if the law is passed, it allows for reasonable exceptions like medical needs and special education communication devices, and gives schools the ability to choose practical enforcement methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, our goal is to create an environment where students are focused, engaged and safe, and any policy should support that without creating unnecessary burdens for families or schools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Wyoming<\/p>\n

Wyoming Area superintendent Dr. Jon Pollard demonstrates the function of the Yondr pouch on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Wyoming<\/p>\n

Wyoming Area superintendent Dr. Jon Pollard demonstrates the function of the Yondr pouch on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ameriana<\/p>\n

Ameriana Walker, senior student council vice president at Wyoming Area, demonstrates the function of the Yondr pouch on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

Wyoming Area superintendent Dr. Jon Pollard demonstrates the function of the Yondr pouch on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s sponsors, Republican state Sen. Devlin Robinson and Democratic state Sens. Vincent Hughes and Steven Santarsiero, say their legislation aims to curb classroom distractions, improve academic performance, and address growing concerns about youth mental health and social development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence is overwhelming \u2014 student cellphone use in schools is harming learning, social skills, and emotional well-being,\u201d the senators said in a joint statement. \u201cThis legislation is about giving students the chance to be present \u2014 with their teachers, with their peers, and with their learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Ney, vice president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, also said in a statement cellphones disrupt students from learning, facilitate cyberbullying and are a contributing factor to student mental health issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cMobile devices, like smartphones and watches, disrupt students from learning during the school day,\u201d he said. \u201cThey contribute to students cheating, and they fuel cyberbullying and mental health risks for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollard said the pouches have had a positive impact on students, as crisis referrals and incident reports have been down significantly since they were implemented. They also have allowed teachers to focus more on instructional time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very glad that the Legislature is taking this step,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s an important step and I hope they follow through with some specifics about what the ban should look like, as well as some funding to help implement it successfully in all the districts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the country, 35 states have laws or rules limiting cellphones and other electronic devices in school, including 18 states and the District of Columbia where phones aren\u2019t allowed during the school day.\n<\/p>\n

Although there is no statewide cellphone ban in Pennsylvania, lawmakers approved legislation in summer 2024 that allocated $100 million for school districts to purchase lockable bags to secure student cellphones. Only 18 school districts applied.\n<\/p>\n

The current bill awaits approval by the full state Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawmakers in Harrisburg are close to making classrooms statewide cellphone free. The state Senate Education Committee advanced a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[227,201,182,803,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-72851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-education","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-luzerne-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-scranton","15":"tag-scranton-headlines","16":"tag-scranton-news","17":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}