Jordan Education Association President Janet Sanders said teachers cannot continue to compete with cellphones for students’ attention.

“It doesn’t matter how engaging your lesson is, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing that day—you could be doing the most exciting thing there could be— but with that phone, the dopamine hit is there, it’s just so hard to resist,” she said.

The Jordan District Board of Education has been working for months on solutions to the cellphone problem in schools. In January, they authorized Lighthouse Research to conduct surveys and focus groups to gather feedback about the cellphone problem. Results showed 87% of parents, 70% of students and 91% of faculty agree cellphones should be restricted during class time.

Parents are concerned about the negative impact of cellphones on children’s development. Teachers are concerned about distractions from learning.

One educator said, “I feel like so much teaching time is lost because a student will zone out on a phone and then expect me to reteach what they missed.” 

Board members have spent months exploring ideas, researching tools, speaking with constituents and searching their souls for solutions, but opinions still vary widely about the best approach. As other districts introduce cellphone restrictions, JSD teachers and parents are demanding direction from the board.

In August, the Board committed to write a new district cellphone policy, to replace the current vague and ineffective policy, to prevent distractions in the classroom and to reduce the burden on teachers and administrators who currently are left to develop and enforce solutions on their own.

The board is in agreement that there should be no cellphones during class time in middle and high schools, and no phones all day in elementary schools. These changes could go into effect as soon as this month. There are still mixed opinions among board and community members for a bell-to-bell ban for all schools. Some concerns include overreaching the board’s role, overriding parent choice and overburdening teachers.

Meanwhile, a bill is being drafted for the next Utah legislative session to call for a statewide cellphone ban in schools, which would include funding for the tools needed to implement such a policy. Jordan’s board has decided not to wait, but to use their own funds to explore solutions such as secure phone lockers and magnetically locking pouches. Schools willing to pilot one of the various procedures, tools, or consequences the board is considering will have board funding.

Until the board announces a new cellphone policy, administrators and teachers are implementing their own solutions.

Mountain Ridge High School announced at the beginning of the school year that no cellphones are allowed in class for both students and teachers. Some middle schools have been able to successfully enforce this type of ban for the past few years. In most schools, teachers are left to create their own classroom systems, such as verbal warnings and consequences, visual reminders of when cellphones can and can’t be used or requiring students to place the phones in plastic pockets or secure lockers when entering the classroom.

Sanders, who teaches at Mountain Ridge High School, said the high school’s new cellphone ban has been successful so far because it is school-wide, consistently reinforced and effective.

“In my class, it’s magical,” she said. “I’ve been in the classroom for many years and I will tell you that since the advent of cellphones, I’ve never seen anything like it. I consider myself to be a good teacher, to be dynamic, to do lots of activities, to make it as engaging as I can, but there’s always going to be that one or two kids determined to be on their phone. Guess what? They’re participating. It’s amazing. You look around the room. They’re talking to each other. They’re working together. They’re actually doing the activity.” λ