DC Council proposes bill to ban cell phones in district’s public schools

Members of the Washington, D.C., Council are seeking a total cellphone ban in the district’s public schools in an attempt to limit distractions in the classroom.

A bill to ban devices was introduced Monday at the D.C. Council meeting and would take effect next school year if enacted. Six council members have already signed on to the bill, which would ban all cellphones, tablets, smartwatches and gaming devices in all D.C. public schools and charter schools.

It just needs support from two more council members to pass.

A little more than a third of the district’s students can read at grade level, while less than a quarter are proficient in math, according to data. Standardized test scores had a slight bump last year from 2023, but the scores are still far behind pre-pandemic levels.

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“Families are permitted to do what they want to do at nights and weekends and in their own time but it’s our responsibility as a government to work in partnership with our families, with our parents, with our schools to make sure that we’re setting up kids for success,” D.C. council member Brooke Pinto, who authored the bill, told Fox 5 DC.

“A big part of that is making sure they’re learning and focused in school and engaging with one another when they’re in the school building and you can’t do that when you’re glued to your cell phone,” she continued.

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Pinto said some of the details of the proposal are still being worked out, including where students’ phones would be stored during the day and who would enforce the policy.

School officials would likely have the flexibility to establish methods of where the phones would be stored, such as secure storage rooms or locked magnetic pouches. Pinto said she does not want the burden of enforcing the ban to fall on the teachers.

The proposal also aims to force students to socialize more between classes instead of scrolling on their phones, which Pinto told Axios “is an equally important part of human development at a young age.”

Local governments and school districts across the country have enacted restrictions on cellphones during school.

Parents, meanwhile, are divided on the issue, as some want to be able to reach their children during the school day, while others believe a ban would help them pay attention and socialize with their classmates.