Des Moines parents push for districtwide cell phone ban
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A group of Des Moines Public Schools parents are advocating for a districtwide cell phone ban, driven by concerns over students' mental health and academic performance.
Why it matters: Educators, officials and experts are alarmed that phones are feeding epidemic levels of youth anxiety, loneliness and sleeplessness, as well as undermining schools' role in teaching face-to-face social skills.
Driving the news: Hoover, East and Lincoln high schools were the first Des Moines schools to completely ban cell phones and headphones from the school day starting last Monday.
- A group of parents are trying to expand the policy districtwide and garner 500 online signatures to force the issue onto the school board's agenda.
- "Parents have been a little frustrated that there hasn't been a lot of movement from the administration on the policy," Mike Draper, who has kids at DMPS and owns Raygun, tells Axios.
Context: The group is leveraging a 2021 law championed by Iowa Republican lawmakers that allows voters to put an issue on their local school board's agenda with 500 signatures.
- The school board must then discuss the issue during its next meeting or within 30 days.
How it works: The petition calls for a "bell-to-bell" ban, which requires students to keep their devices in their bags during class.
- Phones must be "detached" from students' bodies — including out of their pockets and off their desks.
- Proposed consequences start with taking away students' phones and escalate for repeat offenders.
Between the lines: Draper, an advocate for the ban, helped lead a parent discussion in May at Roosevelt about the proposed restrictions and said all of the attending parents were supportive.
Yes, but: Some teachers and administrators have been more hesitant, as cell phones have also been valuable tools for classroom instruction, he says.
The big picture: Ankeny, Waukee and Urbandale are also considering districtwide bans.
- Bergman Academy and Dallas Center-Grimes have already implemented them.