FAQs about all day phone-free schools
1. Will I be able to reach my child during a school emergency?
This concern is understandable. Nobody wants to feel powerless. But the country’s top school safety experts say that phones make students less safe during school shootings. Here’s the choice: feel safe or have our students be safe.
2. Didn’t Michigan just pass a school phone ban?
The new Michigan law is a classroom ban, not a bell-to-bell policy. Students have full access to phones during lunch and between classes. This means social media scrolling, constant notifications, cyberbullying, internet porn, and ongoing anxiety and loneliness. Unlike a bell-to-bell policy, it forces teachers to police every class period.
3. Can I still connect with my child during the day?
Yes. Every school has landline phones in the main office. Many classrooms have landline phones. For emergencies or schedule changes that can’t wait for a quick after-school call/text, parents can call the school and reach their child.. Our proposal recommends updating procedures for parent/student communication.
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4. Will this make exceptions for children with IEPS, 504 plans, or medical conditions?
5. How will this affect students who are Black and/or from low-income households?
Yes. This is a real issue for some students—with big legal implications. Our proposal grants these rare exceptions with proper documentation.
6. Couldn’t this produce more suspensions for Black students?
No. It will likely reduce suspensions for Black students…and everyone else.
Violations of phone policy. Currently, AAPS has no clear or consistent policy for breaking school phone policies (if they exist). Teachers and staff have great discretion. This is a recipe for cognitive bias and often racial bias. In contrast, in schools that use Yondr pouches, the consequences are simple, clear, and consistent, e.g. If we see you with a phone, we will bring it to the main office until the end of the day (and often until your parents pick it up). No warnings. No exceptions. No room for bias. Also, we oppose suspending students for violating phone policies and expect the AAPS Board to agree.
Violations of other policies. Schools that go phone-free all day experience fewer fights, disciplinary referrals, and suspensions. In AAPS, these disproportionately affect Black and disadvantaged students, so they will gain the most benefit when these numbers decline.
7. Shouldn’t parents be responsible for keeping phones out of their kids’ hands?
Yes, parents are responsible for setting loving boundaries. Many are already doing this. Yet, it’s incredibly challenging, because the social pressure teens face is fierce. No parent wants their kid excluded and ostracized. Plus, many students without phones at school accidentally see porn, violence, and other disturbing content on others’ phones.
Parents need to band together—with each other and with the school district. All of us have a role.
Parents will form city-wide pacts where they jointly agree to delay smart phones and social media until specific ages.
Around the country, such pacts are much more successful when schools are phone-free all day.
8. AAPS has budget problems. How will you pay for this?
The General Fund is not an option for the foreseeable future due to budget shortfalls and teachers’ compensation levels. This leaves three primary options:
Identify other AAPS funding streams that could work.
Ask the state legislature to fund this in exchange for participating in research that compares all day phone-free schools with schools that have classroom bans. We are approaching legislators to gauge their interest in this.
Raise money from the community that would cover all AAPS students, likely through a foundation that makes a grant to the district.
One thing we will not do: ask parents to contribute or raise money specifically for their students or their school. We’re all in this together, so once we raise the money, it pays for everyone at every school.
These students will benefit even more than others. According to initial research, all day phone-free schools
Benefit low-income students more than others in terms of GPA and classroom focus
Produce equally high test score improvements among students who identify as “Black” or “Hispanic” as among “white” students.
Reduce disciplinary referrals and suspensions due to fights and other misconduct (see below).