Phone bans yield positive results in Fulton, DeKalb schools
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About two months into the school year in metro Atlanta, two districts that have implemented classroom cellphone bans say the policies are paying off.
Why it matters: Survey data from the Walton Family Foundation and Gallup shared with Axios shows attitudes toward phones in schools have shifted drastically in the space of a single generation as educators grapple with distractions and teens' well-being, Axios' April Rubin reported.
The latest: The Fulton County School System this year implemented a policy prohibiting cellphone use in elementary and middle school, except for in "non-instructional settings" at the high school level, chief academic officer Brannon Gaskin told Axios.
- Before the district-wide policy, Gaskin said, the district left enforcement up to teachers, which led to inconsistencies.
- "It was really a burden for our teachers to decide how they would patrol cellphones in their classrooms in previous years, and I think we've cleared a lot of that up this year," he told Axios.
- The principal and teachers told parents who were concerned about not being able to contact their kids that they can call the school, or even email their child's teacher, if they need to get in touch, Gaskin said.
The intrigue: In middle schools, Fulton educators saw a trend where fights often began on social media and spilled into classrooms.
- "A lot of times when we've investigated fights happening or there's some bullying going on, the root cause always went back to the cellphone usage during the school day," Gaskin told Axios.
- Gaskin said the county hopes to see more engagement from students now that the policy change is in place.
Darnell Logan, director of student relations for the DeKalb County School District, told Axios the system launched a Disconnect to Reconnect pilot program in 18 schools in the previous academic year.
- The students in participating schools were required to put their phones away in designated lockers or pouches.
What they found: Logan said the district saw a 17% reduction in discipline infractions and increased student engagement in those pilot schools.
- "They were having more conversations," Logan said. "We observed students talking, having conversations [and] engaging with each other."
- This year, the initiative was expanded to include all DeKalb schools.
State of play: Gov. Brian Kemp earlier this year signed into law the Distraction-Free Education Act, which requires districts to ban cellphone use by kindergarten through eighth-grade students during the school day.
- Districts are required to have those bans in place by Jan 1, 2026.
- Other states that have bans include Arizona, Arkansas and New York. The District of Columbia also has a ban.