Sto-Rox students, faculty share largely positive experiences with phone-free school policy
A recent Common Sense Media survey of kids ages 11 to 17 found that half of the participants received 237 or more notifications on their phones each day, and the median amount of time they spent on their phones at school is 43 minutes per day.
That's one reason more teachers and child experts are pushing school districts to develop phone-free policies. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association endorsed bell-to-bell phone-free policies in schools on Monday.
A couple of years ago, Sto-Rox Junior-Senior High School administrators adopted a phone-free policy, "bell to bell," meaning no phones from the first bell to the last bell. They started collecting the phones and putting them in envelopes and bins when students enter the building, and they return them at the end of the school day.
"Teachers are no longer having to ask students to put cell phones away. They're able to actually teach directly and not have to worry about them being distracted during class, said Mike Duca, Sto-Rox Junior-Senior High School Dean of Students.
Teacher Shayanne Rippole loves the phone-free policy and says that without it, the phones were distracting.
"They would just kind of look through you, and then they're looking down at their phones, and they think they're inconspicuous, and they're not. They're definitely less focused and less engaged, and I don't think they're retaining the information as much," Rippole described.
Rippole says with the new policy, she's no longer policing kids on their phones.
"Not having (phones) in the classroom allows for them to deeply connect with each other, with me as their teacher, to try to build bonds and also be able to focus on the work."
Sto-Rox Senior High School junior Iyana Lewis says she noticed a difference between when she could have the phone in ninth grade and now.
"Yes, my grades weren't that well in ninth grade, but they started improving (in) 10th grade and towards 11th grade," she told KDKA-TV's Kristine Sorensen.
When asked why she thinks her grades changed, she replied, "Because I didn't have my phone and I wasn't, like, always, like on it."
Schools are moving to a phone-free environment and not just for academic reasons; kids are learning to communicate in person without the phones.
Before Sto-Rox Junior-Senior High School banned phones, teachers say students would be on phones at lunch, but now they're talking.
"When cell phones were allowed, everyone would be on their phones, listening to music, not really interacting. The lunch room was extremely quiet at that point," Duca says. "Now, yes, students are having conversations and able to, you know, communicate with each other."
The students and administrators say the phone-free policy has also helped cut down on fights at school.
Some students don't like the policy and feel the phones would help them communicate with coaches and concentrate better by listening to music. They say without phones, there are just different distractions.
"Instead of listening to music and doing my work, I'm talking to my friends because it's like I'm getting distracted," junior Nynal Griffin said.
"I think we should be on the phone sometimes. Give us an award because when we finish our work, we are just sitting there with nothing to do for 20 minutes," freshman Asya'nae White added.
At Sto-Rox and other schools that have adopted phone-free policies, students, parents, teachers, and administrators adapt to the change.
Mileva Repasky is originally from western Pennsylvania and is co-founder of the Phone-Free Schools Movement. She says there's momentum as more school districts, states, and even countries ban phones in schools.
"We're not advocating that they never pick up a phone again," Repasky explains. "It's give them back the eight hours of school time that they should be focused on learning and engaging."
Repasky says her organization has toolkits for administrators and others who want to know more about creating and implementing a bell-to-bell phone-free school policy on their website for the Phone-Free Schools Movement.
