The Kansas State Board of Education on Tuesday adopted a report that recommends that school districts ban cellphones during the school day.
The report is not a mandate and only provides guidance for school districts to follow if they want to impose a policy governing personal electronics.
Some board members made it clear that while they supported adopting the report, it didn’t necessarily reflect their personal views.
“I am very ready to accept the fact that the task force came up with these recommendations,” said board member Cathy Hopkins.
“I, as a board member, don’t necessarily want to say that’s my stance.”
She added, “I think (the report) definitely should be available to every district who wants to look at it and ascertain what they can from it to make their own policies.”
Education Commissioner Randy Watson emphasized that the new report doesn’t reflect a directive for Kansas schools.
“This is not the state board telling any local district what you shall do,” Watson said.
Watson said the task force came about from school districts in Kansas looking for information about what the research said about cellphone use and learning.
He said the new report was intended only to provide guidance in helping school districts adopt their own policy.
State Board Chair Jim Porter said some districts have already adopted cellphone policies across the state.
“I think in many cases, districts are ahead of us on this,” Porter said.
“This is not a mandate. Schools have asked for this, and we are providing information,” Porter said.
The Shawnee Mission School District, for instance, is already considering a new policy governing use of cellphones in schools.
Superintendent Michael Schumacher on Monday presented the school board with several recommendations developed by a special panel studying proposals to regulate technology use in school.
The recommendations would require all personal electronic devices in elementary schools to be stored during the school day.
The recommendations also included requiring all personal electronic devices in middle schools to be stored during the school day, although it allowed for students to access their cellphones at their locker during passing periods.
For high schools, it was recommended that personal electronic devices – other than smart watches – be put away during instructional time.
The Shawnee Mission school board didn’t act on the proposals Monday but could in mid-January.
The report adopted by the State Board of Education was an outgrowth of a task force that was created last summer to develop guidance for addressing the nonacademic use of phones in public school classrooms.
The task force recommended that school districts implement a policy for K-12 students to store personal electronic devices in a secure location inaccessible to them during the school day.
The task force also recommended school districts “develop robust safety and emergency procedures” that don’t depend on students contacting authorities or family with personal electronic devices or school-issued devices.
The task force urged districts to develop a process for teachers to report gaps in district-provided technology, so teachers don’t supplement insufficient district-issued technology with the use of personal devices.
It also recommended districts create a personal device policy for staff members.
The board adopted the report about a week after the U.S. Department of Education called on every state, district and school to adopt policies that guide the use of student personal devices in schools.
The federal agency developed a new resource, which offers a model process that school officials can use to design policies for use of cell phones and other personal devices in schools alongside educators, students, parents, and caregivers.
The federal guidance provides a set of step-by-step practices for “building shared understanding of the needs and concerns surrounding cell phones in a school community, and recommendations for addressing them through clear and consistent policies.”
“The evidence makes clear: there is no one-size-fits-all policy,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said last week in a statement.
“Different school communities have different needs, and the nuances of this issue demand that local voices – parents, educators, and students – inform local decisions around the use of personal devices in school,” Cardona said.
Cellphone bans started years ago amid worries that students were using the devices to facilitate drug deals.
In 2009, 91% of public schools prohibited cellphone use, which fell to 66% in 2015 before rising again to 76% in 2021, according to healthcare think tank KFF.
Last month, KFF reported that eight states have enacted bans or restrictions on cellphone use, with the policies differing between states. They included:
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed the Phone-Free School Act, requiring school districts and charter schools to develop and adopt a phone policy that either limits or entirely prohibits smartphone use during school by July 2026.
- Last year, Florida became the first state to ban public school students from using phones in class. The ban went into effect in July 2024. KFF reported that there was a component starting in sixth grade that requires education on the spread of misinformation on social media and digital footprints.
- This year, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill requiring school districts to limit cellphone use during class time. The bill prohibits students from using “wireless communication devices during instructional time.” It include phones, but also covers tablets and laptops in many circumstances. Teachers are permitted to allow students to use those devices for educational purposes, and the law also permits students to use phones in the event of an emergency or to manage their health care.
- Also, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill requiring districts to establish a policy for cellphone use when school is in session.
- Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill in July banning students from having cell phones. The law says no students shall possess an electronic telecommunication device throughout the instructional day.
The issue of cellphones in classrooms started to get attention earlier this year in Kansas when the House Education Committee took up a bill that would have banned students from using cellphones during normal school hours.
The bill was advocated by Kim Whitman, an Overland Park parent who is affiliated with Screen Time Action Network, a group that works to reduce “excessive technology” harming children, adolescents and families.
Citing research from a report by Common Sense Media, Whitman noted that during school hours, students used their phones at least once for a median of 43 minutes.
The study found that “the median number of phone pickups was 13 per school day, ranging from less than one to 229.”
“The app categories that took up the highest proportion of time during school hours were social media (32% of smartphone use during school hours), gaming (17%) and YouTube (26%),” according to the study.
The study also found that teens received a median of 237 notifications from apps on their phone daily, of which about a quarter arrived during the school day.
Locally in Kansas, the Olathe school district already has a policy in place for cellphones.
The district allows students to have personal electronic devices in their backpacks, lockers or on their person as long as the devices aren’t visible during the school day.
However, students are not allowed to use personal electronic devices during the scheduled school day for early childhood through eighth grade students.
High school students are barred from using cellphones during class time unless it’s for instruction as directed by the teacher.
High school students, however, can use of personal electronic devices during noninstructional activities such as lunch and passing periods.
Students may use personal electronic devices during the scheduled school day in emergency situations, or if necessary for the student’s physical health.
Violation will result in a student receiving age-appropriate discipline as determined by building administration and as outlined in the code of student conduct.
The discipline may include the temporary or permanent forfeiture of a student’s right to possess or use personal electronic devices in school.
