Arizona leaders to renew push for school cell phone ban

Some Arizona leaders are hoping cell phones will be banned throughout the school day as part of state law in next legislative session.

“This is a real emergency, the problem of cell phones in the classroom,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said at a news conference on Thursday, arguing that the issue of students being distracted in classes continues to worsen.

House Bill 2793, sponsored by Rep. Beverly Pingerelli, R-Peoria, was vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs in April. The bill passed the legislature along party lines, with Republicans backing the bill and Democrats voting against it.

“This legislation establishes an unnecessary mandate for an issue schools are already addressing,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter at the time. Skeptics of the legislation also argue that having cell phones not with a student throughout the day could pose a safety risk for parents wishing to contact their children in emergency situations. Meanwhile, the superintendent argued that lockdown protocols usually require cell phones to be taken away, and that there’s usually a number for parents to contact students if there’s a family emergency.

At the Thursday event, former Tucson teacher Mitchell Rutherford said he left the job after frustrations with cell phone usage mounted. Proponents of having statewide legislation said it will make it easier for teachers to force rather than leaving it up to individual classrooms, schools or districts to determine.

“What legislation could do is help students and teachers win the fight for attention, at least in our classrooms,” Rutherford said.

The process for future legislation will likely include input from different stakeholders in the education world, including teachers, administrators, parents and students.

“I look forward to working with them and creating a task force,” Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, said, encouraging people to reach out to her for different ideas for implementing the policy statewide.

A Pew Research Center study from June found that 72% of high school teachers in the United States said that cell phone usage is a “major problem” when working with students. Horne told reporters that from a policy standpoint, there would ideally be no difference in policies for high school students as opposed to middle and elementary schoolers. Many school districts nationwide have begun cell phone bans, and some states like New York are looking into implementing statewide cell phone bans in classrooms.