Broward County Public Schools in Florida has implemented a ban on student cell phone use this school year, which has led to a notable decrease in issues such as fights and an increase in academic performance.Teachers have observed enhanced student creativity and engagement in classroom discussions, as students are less distracted by their phones. School board member Allen Zeman reported a 17% decrease in fights, attributing this improvement to the ban, which prevents students from organizing confrontations through mobile devices. Additionally, the policy aims to create a distraction-free learning environment, helping students maintain focus. The restrictive measures also mitigate the risks of cyberbullying and unauthorized recording.This initiative reflects a growing awareness of the negative influences of technology on student behavior, as echoed by educators across the country who recognize the correlation between cell phones and school violence.
A Florida school district that banned student cell phone use this school year is reporting fewer problems and better grades.
Broward County Public Schools banned any phone use, including at lunchtime, according to WTVJ-TV.
“I’ve noticed a lot more creativity with students, I think their attention spans are a little longer, they have excellent conversations in their groups, those conversations are lasting longer, our class discussions are definitely a lot longer and they’re a lot deeper because no one’s really focused on checking their phone,” Dan Katz, who teaches drama and law at Fort Lauderdale High School, said.
School board member Allen Zeman said fights are down 17 percent from the same point a year ago.
The top reason, he said, appears to be the cellphone ban.
According to school administrators, he said, “the lack of cellphones is taking away an ability for people to organize fights and organize big numbers of people to get together and fight during or after school.
“The lack of cellphones leads to fewer fights to fights with fewer people that last fewer minutes and it also reduces cyber bullying which is something that causes fights and then it stops the recording of fights which stops people from doing the right thing and trying to make sure that the fights are ended,” he said.
Zeman said academic achievement has improved throughout the schools because of the policy.
“This year, at the halfway point, our gains are greater than they were, the gains, from last year,” Zeman said.
“I had a teacher write to us and say for the first time in 10 years, for each student in her classroom, she had two eyeballs watching her give a lecture,” he said.
A Broward County Schools news release said that banning cell phone use, even during lunch, led to “[p]rioritizing school as a place for learning that is distraction-free. This can help students stay focused on academics and maintain a learning mindset throughout the school day.”
The release said the ban also eliminates “the opportunity for students to have pictures and videos captured of them by other students without their permission during the school day,” and also minimizes “inappropriate use of social media.”
“Cellphones and technology are the No. 1 source of soliciting fights, advertising fights, documenting — and almost glorifying — fights by students,” Kelly Stewart, an assistant principal at Juneau-Douglas High School in Juneau, Alaska, said. “It is a huge issue.”
Lt. Alan Bates of the Novato, California, Police Department, told the Times about an incident in May in which several middle school girls made an Instagram video about an attack they were planning on another student.
They assigned girls to act as lookouts and others to guard their backpacks during the attack.
Novato police charged several teens with felony assault for the technology-linked beatdown.
“The aggression begins in technology, continues through the technology in the planning for the fights and comes to a head in physical confrontation,” Bates said.
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