By Theo Peck-Suzuki
A bill that would impose a statewide bell-to-bell cellphone ban in public schools cleared the state House of Representatives Monday, April 27, by a vote of 117-31.
Twenty Republicans joined most Democrats in passing House Bill 5035, which prohibits students across Connecticut from using cellphones on school grounds during the school day. What exactly students do with those phones — whether they keep them in backpacks, for example, or store them in locked pouches — would remain a question for individual districts. The bill makes exceptions for students with specialized learning plans, such as IEPs, and 504 plans.
The ban has been a priority this year for both legislative Democrats and Governor Ned Lamont, who raised the issue at his State of the State address in February. Proponents say phones, and especially the social media apps they run, are distracting, addictive and ripe for abuse. Many draw inspiration from Jonathan Haidt’s bestselling book “The Anxious Generation,” which connects phone use with a devastating rise in youth mental health disorders.
“These devices, while at times a useful piece of technology, have actually become an addiction for our young people, and they are becoming increasingly disruptive in the school day,” said Education Committee co-Chair Representative Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, who presented the bill to her colleagues and answered their questions in the House Monday.
Leeper also expressed concern that smartphones have taken up time children would otherwise be spending building relationships with peers and trusted adults.
Opponents of H.B. 5035 generally agreed with Leeper’s sentiment. However, many argued school boards, not the state government, should be regulating the issue — as they are already.
“This bill is not filling a void where there is no policy. This bill is affirmatively overriding local policy which has already been established,” said Representative Tina Courpas, R-Greenwich.
Under current law, schools in Connecticut are required to adopt cellphone policies in line with guidance from the state Department of Education. That guidance suggests various limitations to phone use, but it stops far short of a bell-to-bell ban. Consequently, many districts still allow phone use at lunch, between classes, and for instructional purposes. Opponents of H.B. 5035 say districts should be allowed to continue those policies.
The state’s teachers unions disagree. They say policing cellphone use is taking up more and more class time and creating friction between teachers and students, and that a statewide ban would help settle the issue once and for all.
Leeper concurred. “We got lots of testimony in support for having one statewide policy … because there’s no evidence that phones in the school day are good for our kids,” Leeper said.
H.B. 5035 now goes to the Senate, where it must pass by May 6 in order to become law.
Story courtesy of the CTMirror. Theo Peck-Suzuki is CT Mirror’s education reporter.