Los Angeles public schools will ban student cell phone use in February. Here's how it could work

The cellphone ban going into effect at hundreds of Los Angeles public schools next year will look different from one campus to the next, a new set of rules being decided for each school depending on concerns and issues raised by parents, students and teachers.

The Los Angeles Unified School District will enforce the ban on phone use during school hours beginning Feb. 18, following months of decision-making and planning taking place now until before then. For each school, a so-called Local School Leadership Council — made up of parents, teachers, staff and student representatives — will hold public meetings where others parents and stakeholders can attend.

These panels are already established at LA schools, with members elected through an annual vote, an LAUSD spokesperson said.

Each campus will decide on what their ban looks like through that council, according to an LAUSD report released Tuesday. From there, schools will start purchasing any equipment they need for the new policy in early January before the ban takes effect Feb. 18.

The new report offers the first glimpse at what the ban will look like across the nation's second-largest school district, which spans 710 square miles and includes more than half a million students. Some options include magnetic-locked pouches to store students' phones throughout the day or simply requiring them to keep their phones in their backpacks during school hours. 

But as LA Unified looks to enforce the new rules on a generation raised on social media and smartphones, concerns have arisen over how it would be enforced, what problems may arise and how it may affect students with disabilities. One chief concern shared among parents, students and teachers, according to the report, is the handling of emergency situations, specifically how parents would be able to reach their children and what the protocol for emergency use would actually look like.

What the ban could look like

Students cannot use their phones during school hours, including at lunch and break times, and the devices must be turned off and stored away. The policy also applies to gadgets with smartphone capabilities such as Apple watches, and students will still be able to use their phones on campus before and after school hours.

However, how students store their phones and how the new rules are enforced will vary across the district's hundreds of campuses.

Looking to bans already in place at some LA schools, LAUSD lists five proposed policies in the new report: storing phones inside backpacks for the day, using portable storage units like safes, keeping phones inside pouches with magnetic locks, storing them in velcro pouches and using a classroom phone holder where all students' devices would be placed.

The school district's Division of School Operations & Procurement would provide one-time funding for any equipment or products that are needed.

Meanwhile, some questions still remain around how exactly teachers, or other staff, would actually enforce the rules.

LAUSD has said the policy would allow students to have their phones readily accessible so they can use them in emergency situations, falling in line with state guidelines under California's Phone-Free School Act, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in September.

Concerns among parents, teachers and students

Parents, students, teachers and other staff all referred to the handling of emergency situations as a major concern in enforcing the new ban, according to the LAUSD report. The district says students would be able to access their phones at such times, however, it also notes in the report that a school may have to assess whether a given situation warrants phone use.

"If a student (or parent) requests that the student be allowed to use their smartphone due to a 'perceived threat of danger', then the school will convene a threat assessment, develop a safety plan, etc., before allowing the use of the phone," the new report reads.  

Some parents have said their children will violate the policy anyways, asking to just have the students keep them in backpacks, while others have said they are thankful for the new policy, according to the report. Meanwhile, some students have said they use their phones for class instruction, calling for a policy that would only limit use rather than prohibit it, while some have said they use them for communications with universities and colleges.

Teachers, and unions representing them, have raised concerns over how they would actually enforce the new rules. Some have said parents may not buy into the policy, making enforcement difficult, and addressing students who violate the ban could take away from instruction time. There were also questions raised about who would actually be responsible for enforcement, and how students with disabilities could be affected.

LAUSD has said there would be exceptions made for students with health-based needs, those in special educations programs such as as IEP, students with disabilities under the 504 plan, new students needing assistance with instruction and those with certain needs on a "local" basis.

Still, like some parents supporting the policy change, some teachers have said they look forward to students not being on their phones and having access to cameras during class time.

Los Angeles policy follows state law for broader ban

The LAUSD Board of Education voted to ban on-campus student phone use back in June, joining a growing number of school boards issuing such policies and becoming the largest school district in the U.S. to do so.

The policy change follows a state law that calls on schools across the state to establish rules limiting or prohibiting smartphone use by July 1, 2026. The legislation cites some of the same concerns noted by LAUSD, such as the mental health effects of social media on students, conflicts that can first arise online and how the devices can serve as a distraction in the classroom.  

"We know that excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues – but we have the power to intervene," Newsom said in a statement announcing his signing of the bill. "This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not their screens, when they're in school."  

Upon the vote approving the ban this past summer, LAUSD board member Nick Melvoin said school officials are hoping for a less distracting, more mentally healthy classroom environment.

"The phone-free school policy says from the moment students walk into class to the end of the day, they shouldn't have their phones," Melvoin said. "Let's have kids interact with one another, free from the distractions that we know are harming mental health, their academics."

A 2022 study published by the National Institutes of Health found that excessive phone use among students could lead to harmful effects to their mental and physical health, from stress to weight gain, while there may also be some advantages to having them on hand. It suggested schools issue policies addressing the potential impacts to prevent overuse.