Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1481 into law on June 20, requiring that Texas public school districts prohibit students from using cell phones during the school day.
Texas has joined more than a dozen other states that restrict cell phone use in schools, all in an effort to help students focus and improve their academics.
The ban applies to all personal communication devices, including cell phones, personal laptops, smartwatches, tablets, and any other digital or telecommunications device. Headphones are also prohibited, unless used for educational purposes and with a teacher’s permission.
A student who breaks the no-phone rule for the first time will have their device confiscated by a teacher for the remainder of the school day. After school, they will be able to reclaim their device from the AP office. A student who repeatedly breaks the cell phone rule will receive escalating consequences, which could include detention and ISS.
The ban applies only during the school day, from 8:45 a.m. to 4:25 p.m. Students may bring personal devices to school, provided that they are stored out of sight during school hours.
Students who need to contact their parents during class can use either the classroom phone or one of the phones in the counseling or AP offices. Parents who need to contact their child can communicate via email or by calling the school. Consequently, the cell phone ban has been met with disapproval from students.
“At the end of the day, everyone’s on it at home,” sophomore Brandon Sosa said. “Social anxiety is a thing too, that cellphones fix for people.”
Students also believe they should be allowed to use their phones during non-instructional periods, such as between classes.
“Sometimes school’s boring, so you want to have your phone out,” freshman Luis Balcazar said. “Last year they did that here.”
Though the new rule is unpopular, students still acknowledge that there are some benefits to banning phones from classrooms.
“It makes people talk to people and be more social,” Balcazar said.
HB 1481 passed the Texas legislature with overwhelming support. The bill cleared the House of Representatives with 128 members voting in favor and 17 opposing. The Texas Senate voted unanimously in favor of the bill. Both State Senator Donna Campbell and State Representative Erin Zwiener, whose districts include the school, voted in favor of the cell phone ban.
Despite the ban’s popularity among lawmakers, no resources were allocated to schools to help them enforce the new law. Some students feel that lawmakers are out of touch with students’ needs.
“They should have talked to different schools, and school parents, to enforce the ban…students should have had a word in it too,” Sosa said. “It’s unfair.”
