As of 2024, there have been nationwide phone bans in schools. 

This has students to question if removing phones in school settings will threatens student’s safety. Students safety should remain the priority and the recent phone ban has put more risk to 

this issue.

   Our own school has made there own phone ban policy for students in elementary, middle, and high school. 

   According to LPS 2024 student handbook, “Electronic devices are not to be used during instructional time, unless specifically allowed for instructional purposes.”

    This policy risks the chance of a real threat to occur and students to not have the basic necessity of communication. Without direct access to phones, students are not able to contact parents and guardians in case of 

an emergency. 

   According to National Parents Union “78% of parents polled want their children to have cellphone access during the school day in case there’s an emergency.”   

   Surrounding districts have decided to use stricter phone policies that require students to give up phones all day. This district, unlike others around the Missouri/Kansas area, have decided to inforce more tolerant policies. 

   According to Jenning School District in St Louis, “The use of cell phones is prohibited during school hours… Yondr is a secured pouch device that creates phone free spaces.” 

   Administrators intention for this ban was to boost students productivity and make phones less of a priority during school hours. 

   “I think the purpose of our district’s new phone ban is to give students more of an opportunity to be productive without a distraction of a phone,” EDGE teacher Tim Baldwin said. 

   Additionally, the chances of a safety threat to happen are slim and in most cases students will have access to contact parents through teachers and admin. 

According to SRA, “Our results show that it is very, very unlikely that a specific student will attend a K-12 school and experience a 

mass shooting.”

   The idea of putting away phones during school hours shows to be beneficial to students, but locking phones up in boxes or pouches for hours at a time isn’t the answer. While the most extreme of phone bans would make students lock up there phones from 8 am to 3 pm each day, an alternative should be asked to leave phones in their bag, this way it is out of sight while learning, but still accessible in case of emergency.