Broward County Schools is reviewing its cell phone ban amid mixed reactions

The Broward County School Board joined the state this year in banning certain electronic devices, including cell phones, in the classroom to promote mental health and better academic performance.

A survey of thousands of students and parents released by the school board this week found that significant numbers among both groups were not entirely happy with the new policy. And board members seemed open to changes – albeit after further research into their impact.

The original bill, CS/HB 379, Technology in K-12 Public Schools, expired in the spring of 2023. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law on May 9, 2023, and it went into effect on July 1, 2023. It allows students to have their devices with them at school but orders teachers and staff to ban their use during class time.

“We are giving teachers the authority to set classroom rules about cell phone use,” DeSantis said posted on X after the bill was signed. “Our students need to be focused on learning – not on social media.”

Broward Schools voted to ban devices last summer. The ban applies to the classroom, the hallways and during lunch.

State law allows teachers to reserve a room for devices during class hours and allow students to use their devices for educational purposes only. Broward Schools allows exceptions to the ban if approved by a teacher.

After a two-week grace period at the beginning of this school year, administrators began fully enforcing the ban in late August.

Students who use any of the devices on the prohibited list may be subject to disciplinary action; most of these so far have been meetings with parents, verbal warnings and some seizures.

Prohibited devices include mobile phones, tablets, laptops, headphones, earbuds, AirPods, smartwatches and can be extended to any internet-enabled device.

In some cases of repeat violations, students faced in-school suspensions and regular suspensions.

Middle and high school students saw a huge increase in cell phone violations this school year, compared to violations in 2023 and 2024.

During the workshop meeting on Wednesday school board members discussed the impact of the ban and how students, staff and parents responded.

“Not surprisingly, based on what we heard from our students, they were very dissatisfied with the implementation of the policy,” said Jodi Washington, executive director of Student Services Initiatives.

The student survey found that about half of the nearly 27,000 respondents strongly disagreed with the restrictions.

The parent survey showed that a large majority of the nearly 40,000 parents who responded responded positively to the ban. About 13,600 parents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the policy.

However, the majority of parent responses indicate that their support for the ban ends with the lunch restriction. Many disagree with the ban outside the classroom.

Board members said more time is needed to assess whether the ban will improve mental health or academic performance.

“We can’t necessarily say that limiting lunch consumption does or doesn’t support mental health,” said board member Dr. Jeff Holness.

Several board members, including Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn, want to see more data over a longer period of time to make more conclusive recommendations about the ban.

“I think at the end of the school year, when we’ve had a full school year, when we’ve started to ingrain some things in the culture, when we start looking at correlative data … we can better answer that question,” said Hepburn in his response. to questions from Holness.

As for the implementation of the ban, students were decidedly dissatisfied with the results, while parents were largely neutral.

Using an AI summary of other responses from parents and staff, the board identified repeated concerns about the ban.

Emergencies like school shootings and medical issues meant students could quickly call their parents, in addition to daily activities like coordinating school pick-up.

Board member Dr. Allen Zeman recommended no immediate changes in light of the survey, given the confusion it could cause mid-year and the time it would take to change the policy.

“I am happy to change this long term,” he said at the meeting. “I want to try it this year; I want to measure, measure, measure.”

“I want to make sure that what we’re doing is actually working and whether it’s helping academics as the students, faculty and staff told us it should or should, whether it’s improving mental health in any tangible way.”