A survey by the Pew Research Center shows 72% of high school teachers in the U.S. find smartphones to be a major disruption to the classroom.
A new law taking effect this school year requires Missouri's charter and public school districts to create policies banning students from utilizing cellphones during the school day, including during lunch and passing periods.
The law allows exceptions for health or educational needs, emergencies and authorized educational instruction.
"[W]hen students are looking at at their cell phones, I would say, a majority of the time, and they're not doing it for instructional purposes, and that's getting them away from the instruction that we're teaching, which ultimately is hindering the education in which they should be receiving," said Nathan Muckey, principal of Lee's Summit High School.
Implementing the new policy will take parent support, Muckey said.
A study by the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics shows that teens spend an average of 1.5 hours on phones during a school day.
While some students are using phones for social media, Kim Sixta, a high school teacher at Ruskin High School in Kansas City, said sometimes phone use is related to parent contact and notifications from school coaches.
Sixta agrees phones are a distraction during class, but questions how enforcement will effect teachers and administrators. The change, she points out, could mean administrators disrupting class to relay parent messages or to confiscate a phone, or more students asking for a restroom pass to use their phone.
"I think we won't know what we're up against until we put the policy into effect and see and see what that ripple effect is in the classroom," Sixta said.
- Nathan Muckey, principal, Lee's Summit High School
- Kim Sixta, teacher, Ruskin High School
