New Jersey education officials back school phone bans
Dobrila Vignjevic via Getty Images
In new guidance, the Department of Education endorsed policies limiting students' access to cellphones and other devices with internet access.
This article was originally published by New Jersey Monitor.
New Jersey school districts should move to limit students’ ability to use cellphones and other devices with internet access during instruction and other parts of the school day to limit classroom distractions, the state Department of Education says in a new report.
The recommendations — which include exceptions for emergencies, students’ individual education plans, and health monitoring, among some others — are likely to bolster a legislative push to limit student access to electronics that already boasts broad bipartisan support despite a monthslong stall.
“I think they are great recommendations, and the first thing I would say is it’s about time,” said Assemblyman Cody Miller (D-Gloucester), a prime sponsor of a bill that would require school districts to adopt some form of policy limiting students’ in-school phone access.
The guidance lays out three example policies. One would require school districts to hold students’ devices for the duration of the school day, a second would leave phones in students’ possession as long as they are unpowered and out of sight until the school day ends, and a third would be some version of the two that allows students to use their devices outside of classroom instruction.
It presents three options for schools to store student devices. Districts could use magnetically locked pouches, school lockers, or in-classroom storage to hold cellphones and other electronics.
Legislators and school officials have increasingly viewed internet-enabled electronics like smartphones and smartwatches as a source of distraction in the classroom and a conduit for cyberbullying.
“I talk to teachers all the time, educators all the time, and of course I’m a parent myself,” said Assemblywoman Aura Dunn (R-Morris). “It’s the No. 1 distraction.”
School phone bans are not new. More than two dozen states, including neighboring New York, have enacted full or partial bans on cellphones in classrooms, and some New Jersey school districts have created their own prohibitions.
Jersey City’s school district — the third largest in the state by enrollment during the 2024-2025 school year — last week approved a ban that will bar students from using their cellphones in class beginning Oct. 1.
Legislative efforts to ban cellphones in schools have seen less success despite broad bipartisan support in both legislative chambers and support from Gov. Phil Murphy, who endorsed efforts to create phone-free schools in his annual state of the state address. Murphy, a Democrat, leaves office in January after two terms.
Lawmakers earlier this year and in late 2024 unanimously advanced bills that would require school districts to draft their own phone bans that, at a minimum, were at least as strict as those called for by state guidance.
“It’s not necessarily a one-size-fits-all, nor should it be, even if we just talked about different grades and different needs, but the overall message is we need to address this,” said Dunn, a GOP co-sponsor of the bipartisan measure who has introduced her own phone ban bill.
Both bills would permit varying levels of restriction for different grade levels, and the state’s guidance recommends elementary school students be subject to the strictest rules, which would relax for middle schoolers and again for high school students.
Miller, who credited fellow sponsors Assemblywoman Rosy Bagolie (D-Essex) and Sen. Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester) for the bipartisan legislation, said he hopes the legislation advances swiftly.
“This is a priority for all of us. I know that it is. Other states are moving at the speed of lightning, and personally, I feel we’re behind on this,” he said. “We need to get this done and moved because we’re going to be moving into another school year.”
The Senate unanimously approved Miller’s bill in January, but it will need another vote to approve an amended version that came out of an Assembly committee in March.
The bill has yet to come to a floor vote in the lower chamber, and it’s not likely to see one there until after this year’s November elections. All 80 Assembly seats and the governorship are on the ballot.
The bill may see some opposition despite the broad support it enjoys among lawmakers. Students and some parents have raised concerns over how a phone ban might affect parents’ ability to reach students during an emergency.
Sponsors said new technologies mean parents’ ability to directly contact their children at school matters less.
“Districts now have the ability to communicate through text systems, through email systems where they’re able to communicate with the families during school hours if, God forbid, something were to happen,” Miller said.