HANCOCK COUNTY – As the majority of Hancock County students head back to school this week, some might be surprised by teachers cracking down on cell phone use due to a new statewide ban on personal wireless communication devices in the classroom.
Senate Bill 185 was signed into law by state legislators March 11 and went into effect July 1.
The law requires that school corporations and charter schools adopt a wireless communication device policy prohibiting a student from using a device during instructional times. The law covers all wireless communication devices, including cell phones, smart watches and tablets.
It stresses that educators could allow for students to use devices for educational purposes, and that students will be able to use devices in emergency situations. The bill also states that each school corporation and charter school is required to post the policy on its website.
As incoming freshmen filed in and out of Greenfield-Central High School to tour the school Tuesday – just a day before the start of school – the majority were carrying a cell phone in one hand.
Most of them likely had no idea about the new law going into effect this year.
Incoming freshman Kyndall Gunther, 14, said she’s not thrilled about the new law but understands its purpose.
“It would keep kids off their phones more and help them actually learn,” she said while finishing up her walk-through at the high school.
“Even though it might suck, I feel like it’s probably best,” she said.
Local superintendents say their schools already have had cell phone policies in place, yet some educators hope the new law will give them extra leverage in enforcing those policies.
“It has the potential to reduce some of the burden on teachers in terms of having to develop a ‘my classroom only’ type of policy,” said Jill Benvenutti, who teaches teens at The Academy at Greenfield-Central.
“This (new law) is just giving us an opportunity to be in conversation with the whole district as far as what best practices look like,” she said.
While electronic devices can still sometimes be helpful in class through structured use, Benvenutti feels the new law implementing a statewide ban on personal use can only benefit kids.
“The school environment has almost nothing in common with what it was before cell phones when we were growing up,” said Benvenutti, who is starting her 14th year as a teacher.
“It has impacted nearly every element of a student’s day – starting from when they wake up in the morning, the amount of rest they’ve gotten or not gotten, continuing through to times like riding the bus or coming in for breaking or hanging out before class. Their phones are completely integrated into their social interactions,” she said.
“Their desire to be constantly in contact with their peers – which they’ve grown accustomed to from having their phones – makes it very difficult for them to resist the temptation of checking their notifications during classes, during practice. And while some kids are able to work…on resisting that temptation, it’s putting an extra mental load on them at a time when they already developmentally have a heavy load with their academic learning and with their growth and development.”
Benvenutti thinks how impactful the new law is will all come down to follow through.
“I think it’s really going to come down to individual schools and administrations and how they implement it,” she said.
