EDITORIAL: Statewide school cellphone policy is long overdue
A statewide policy limiting student use of cellphones during the school day would be sensible. It also would be long overdue.
Since 2024, state Rep. Stephanie McClintock, R-Vancouver, has been a leader in proposing limits on cellphones in schools. Now, Gov. Bob Ferguson and state Superintendent Chris Reykdal plan to ask the Legislature to address the issue next year; lawmakers should make it a priority. Banning phones during the school day - with exceptions for medical reasons or education plans - would provide numerous educational and social benefits with minimal drawbacks.
At the risk of sounding curmudgeonly, we point out that previous generations of students managed to get through the school day without having access to screens, and we were better off for it. We engaged with fellow students between classes and during lunch, and if our parents needed to reach us, they could do so through the school office.
Smartphones have given students - and adults - access to a world that previously was unimaginable. They have delivered accumulated human knowledge to our fingertips, retrievable in a matter of seconds. But they also have put time-wasting distractions within reach, and those distractions all too often take precedence over the serious business of learning.
Over the past two years, school districts throughout the state - including in Clark County - have established policies governing the use of phones. Typically, these involve the storage of phones during class but allow for use between classes. Such action is laudable, but it has created a hodgepodge of disparate strategies; a state law would enhance enforcement by setting uniform guidelines for administrators in individual districts.
As Ferguson noted, restricting cellphone use "costs virtually nothing, and yet studies show we'll expect positive results. Studies show the sheer number of hours that are lost to learning in the classroom because students are distracted by their phones. To me, that's just completely and totally unacceptable. We should be doing everything possible to provide the best learning experience in the classroom for our students, and we are not doing that right now."
A coalition of child health organizations, in fact, gave Washington an "F" grade when assessing each state's student cellphone laws.
The Legislature this year adopted Senate Bill 5346, aiming to help school districts enact policies tailored to their community's needs by 2030. The law directs the state superintendent to submit a report with best-practices recommendations by mid-December 2027.
Such a delay is perplexing. For several years, teachers have noted that cellphones pose an extreme distraction in the classroom and that students' social skills have diminished during the digital age. The COVID-19 pandemic and a year of isolation exacerbated that trend, and adults should do something about it rather than call for another study. Setting a 2030 deadline amounts to, er, um, phoning it in.
The Washington Education Association has supported legislation requiring cellular devices to be turned off and stored away throughout the day while allowing for some exceptions. The Washington Association of School Administrators also expressed support while raising questions about local flexibility and funding for implementation.
We trust that any concerns over potential legislation can be worked out. Those concerns should not outweigh the needs of students and teachers in Washington's schools.
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