How one Kentucky school is already using a cell phone ban that may go statewide
One Louisville high school has already implemented the ban that’s inspired the bill. Here’s how it works there
The ban would be for Kindergarten through 12th grade
Independent of that effort, the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) district is crafting a plan for the school board on how to beef up its own prohibition of cell phone use during instructional time.
Fern Creek High School is one of at least three schools in the district seriously limiting phone use. There, students put their phones in YONDR brand pouches. (Below)
“Bop!” Dwayne Armand Langford said, locking up his phone to show how it works. Some students keep their phones in simpler bags if they need quick access to it. For example, if a student used medical monitoring software on their phone.
To any classmates worried about giving it up, Langford said “it’s just eight hours.”
And in reality, it’s only seven hours and forty minutes. Students can have phone access the first 20 minutes of the day, before the first bell rings.
“Less distraction is more success,” Langford said.
He learned the equation as the school committed to a phone-free day at the beginning of the school year. Then, about 60 seats in the cafeteria were designated for phone use during lunch time. Not enough students were using it, so lunch period is phone-free too.
Assistant Principal Kenneth Christian convinced Principal Rebecca Nicolas it would work.
“Even our best teachers would tell us, ‘I can’t compete with YouTube,'” he said, adding that he’s added screentime limits on his own device and that his own children have either no or limited access.
Students, their families and staff voted for the policy change at Fern Creek.
“There will always be people who feel reluctance or who aren’t sure if it will work for them,” Nicolas acknowledged. “But I think building a consensus is a really critical part of the process.”
For clarity—the school doesn’t take the phones. Kids keep the pouches, which have their phones. Some kids put them in their backpacks, others wear them on lanyards or squeeze them into a pocket.
Special magnets unlock the pouches. At the end of the day, several unlocking points are set up around the school.
During emergencies, teachers have more magnets—or scissors to cut pouches open.
It’s cutting down on brain fog too, says student Kendra Quaye-Mansell.
“With the phone policy change this year, I realized that even outside school, I don’t use my phone as much,” she said. “There’s always something happening on social media. You’re worrying about school and this and that, it’s not necessary.”
“This has been a growing issue that has been with schools since about 2010,” JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said at a Feb. 25 school board meeting.
Speaking there in support, Nicolas reported the change is going well.
“Forty-four percent of our students felt like they were learning more than they did last year. Ninety percent of our teachers feel that our students are more engaged than they were last year,” she shared from a school survey.
Pouches like Fern Creek uses would cost about $2-3 million, Pollio said. He’ll present a new phone policy plan to board members in the spring, giving it enough time to be implemented for the 2025-26 school year.
House Bill 208 in K-12 classrooms is up for its third and final reading in the State House of Representatives on March 4.
If passed out of the house, the bill would also need approval from the State Senate to become law.
