Aaron Kubo tells his students to put away their phones up to 15 times a day. He teaches eighth-grade social studies at Hilo Intermediate, which has a cellphone policy.
The rule is that students turn off their phones and store them in their bags during class. But sometimes, they need reminders. Kubo said once their smartwatches or phones vibrate, they feel the urge to check.
"They want to see. They have to know, and that is a distraction," he said. "Unfortunately, until they can do it, they won't be able to move on."
Educators have long raised concerns about students using cellphones in the classroom, citing disruption from learning and worries of bullying and mental health issues.
So far, at least 19 states have laws or policies that ban or restrict students from using cellphones in schools, either statewide or local school districts. Hawaiʻi is not one of them.
Measures that would've required the state Board of Education to adopt a policy on a statewide cellphone ban failed this legislative session. The only measure on the matter that got a hearing last week was quickly killed by the Senate Education Committee because it left it up to the BOE to create a statewide policy.
BOE Chair Roy Takumi said the Student Achievement Committee is discussing a proposal that will be presented to the full board sometime this year.
"I anticipate that discussion happening in the coming months, that the entire board will have a decision to make whether to implement a policy on cellphones or whether or not we leave it up to individual schools as a policy," he said.
Taking matters into their own hands
Although there is no statewide policy on cellphone bans, individual schools have developed their own rules.
Parents and teachers say there should be some guidance on tackling the issue. Since the introduction of smartphones, social media use among teens has been growing.
A recent study showed that teens across the nation ages 13 to 18 spend an average of 8.5 hours a day looking at screens, according to Stony Brook University's research, published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Last year, Kihei Charter School purchased fabric YONDR pouches that have magnetic locks. The policy implemented this year instructs high schoolers to turn off their phones and put them in the pouch at the beginning of the school day. They get them back by the end of the day.
According to Takumi, the pouches cost $20 to $30. Hawaiʻi public schools have more than 165,000 students, so if the pouches were acquired for all K-12 students, it would cost the department more than $4.9 million.
Deborah Bond-Upson, president of the board of Parents for Public School Hawaiʻi, said the issue is nuanced. She said cellphones can be used as learning tools, but many social media applications can disrupt learning.
"The impact of all of the electronic devices we have connecting us have had such an impact on youths," she said. "Especially with the pandemic, the mental health effect has been huge, but also the change in lifestyle for people today versus 10 to 20 years ago is so big. I think that a lot of the adults who are scared are just thinking we've got to get control of this."
Parents for Public School Hawaiʻi surveyed 538 parents, teachers, administrators, and students on cellphone bans. That survey found that 76.4% want some kind of ban, including collecting phones, using software to block usage, or using a pouch to contain phones during class; 13.6% do not want a ban, and 10.1% are not sure.
Bond-Upson said she's working with the startup company Detezo to help pilot a mobile application at some public schools that requires students to scan a QR code, preventing them from accessing social media during class, except for emergency calls. Their phones unlock once they scan the QR code before they leave class.
"It's time for Hawaiʻi to move forward, looking at using technology to solve problems. Not just take a political big sledgehammer and say 'no,'" she said.
What are other states doing?
So far, three states have a statewide ban on cellphones: Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina.
Tia Mills, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, said many school districts in the state already had a ban before the law.
"Educators love it. Students hate it," she said.
What the cellphone ban looks like statewide still depends on the school districts: Louisiana has 72.
"There could be an agreement with the school where the student turns it into the front office at the beginning of the day and then picks it up at the end of the day. That's what most districts are doing," she said.
She said the Louisiana Department of Education provides guidance, but it's still up to the school district to implement a policy.
"So they (Louisiana Department of Education) would probably do regular check-ins just to see how the law is being implemented," she said. "If it's not being implemented, I know that there's a possibility where some grievances could transpire amongst staff, whomever, to make sure that these laws are, in fact, being implemented. To avoid that, I believe that all districts are adequately following the law to the best of their ability."
Hawaiʻi BOE Chair Takumi said that his granddaughter attends a Las Vegas high school where cellphone use is banned. He said she puts her phone in a numbered pouch and stores it in a cubby. She can only access it when class is over.
"She hated it at first, but now she said she really likes it because there are far fewer distractions in class," he said. "Her schoolwork has improved."
