By Jeff Amy
Atlanta (AP) – Florida was the first state to adopt a law that regulated the use of mobile phones in schools in 2023. Only two years later, More than half of all states Have laws, with a better chance of acting quickly.
Accounts were spoken by legislators this year in states that are as varied as New York And Oklahoma, who reflects a broad consensus that phones are bad for children.
Rep. Jennifer Leeper, a Democrat and Co-chairman of the Connecticut Education Committee, mentioned telephones on our Kids on 13 May ‘A Cancer on Our Kids’ who stimulate ‘insulation, loneliness, reduce attention and have major consequences for both social-emotional well-being but also learning’.
Republicans express similar feelings.
“This is not just an academic bill,” said Republican Rep. Scott Hilton after the bill of Georgia, who only prohibits telephones in the K-8 classes, adopted in March. “This is a bill for mental health. It is a bill for public safety.”
So far, 26 states have adopted laws, with eight other states and the district or columbia that carries out rules or makes recommendations to local districts. 17 of the States acted this year. On Tuesday, Nebraska Republican government Jim Pillen signed a law that forbade telephones during the school day. Earlier Tuesday, Alaska legislators needed schools to regulate mobile phones when they would destroy a Republican government Mike Dunkeay, for non -related reasons.
More action is coming as accounts wait for the signature or veto of a governor in Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and New Hampshire.
Increasing focus on prohibiting telephones during the school day
When Florida acted for the first time, legislators ordered schools to ban telephones during instruction time, while allowing them between lessons or during lunch. But now there is still a bill awaiting the action by GOV. Ron Desantis who continues. It would forbid telephones for the entire school day for primary schools and secondary schools.
Ten states and the District of Columbia have carried out school day bans, most for students in the K-12 classes, and they are now surpassing the seven states with instruction time bans.
North Dakota Republican government Kelly Armstrong called the ban during the school day that he signed ‘a huge victory’ in the law.
“Teachers wanted it. Parents wanted it. Clients wanted it. School boards wanted it,” said Armstrong.
Armstrong recently visited a primary school with such a ban. He said he saw children busy with each other and laugh at tables during lunch.
The “Bel-to-Bell” prohibitions were partially promoted by Excelined, the think tank founded by the former government of Florida Jeb Bush. The group’s political partner has been active in lobbying for prohibited.
Nathan Hoffman, the senior director of Excelined of state policy and advocacy, said that all day long by telephones to the day of the lesson are outside the class, such as when students set up or record battles in Hallen.
“That is often when you get some of your biggest behavioral problems, whether they are going viral or not,” said Hoffman.
Other states want school districts to adopt their own rules
But other states, especially when there are strong traditions of local school control, only require school districts to assume a kind of mobile policy, believe that districts will take the hint and greatly limit access to the phone. In Maine, where some legislators originally suggested a ban on school day, the laws are now considering a rewritten bill that would only require a policy.
And there have been a few states where legislators do not act at all. Perhaps the most dramatic in Wyoming, where senators voted a bill in January, with some opponents who say that teachers or parents should determine the rules.
Where policy makers have gone, there is a growing consensus on exceptions. Most states allow students to use electronic devices to check medical needs and to meet the conditions of their special educational plans. Some allow exceptions for translation devices if English is not the first language of a student or when a teacher wants students to use devices for classroom.
There are also some unusual exceptions. The original policy of South Carolina made an exception possible for students who are voluntary firefighters. The new law of West Virginia allows smartwatches, as long as they are not used for communication.
Some parents and students oppose the rules
But by far the most controversial exception is to allow the use of mobile in an emergency. One of the most common parent objections to a ban is that they would not be able to contact their child in a crisis as a shooting at school.
“It was only because of SMS reports that parents knew what happened,” said Tinya Brown, whose daughter is a first -year student at Apalachee High School, northeast of Atlanta, where a shooting killed two students and two teachers in September. She spoke against Georgia’s law at a press conference in March.
Some laws ask schools to find other ways for parents to communicate with their children in schools, but most legislators say they give students access to their mobile phones, at least after the immediate danger has passed, during an emergency.
In some states, students have testified in favor of regulations, but it is also clear that many students, especially in secondary schools, sand under the rules. Kaytlin Villescas, a second-year student at Prairieville High School, in the outskirts of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a student who has recorded the fight against Bans, a petition starts and WBRZ TV tells in August that Louisiana’s law that requires a school day ban is misled. She argued that schools should be responsible instead.
“It is our statement that instead of fully prohibiting mobile phones, schools have to give guidelines on responsible use, so that a culture of respect and self -regulation must be built up,” Villescas wrote in an online petition.
Most states do not offer financing to implement laws
Some states have provided money for districts to buy lockable telephone suits or other storage solutions. For example, New York is planning to spend $ 13.5 million. But states have usually not provided any money. New Hampshire -legislators have a proposed $ 1 million away from their account.
“Giving some specific money for this would make some of that implementation a bit easy,” said Hoffman. “That said, not most states.”
Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska; Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; and Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida; has contributed to this report.
Originally published:
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