The mobile phone ban covering around 800 schools came into effect Tuesday in the Los Angeles Unified School District, eliciting a mix of reactions, but no major issues were reported.
“I think it’s good for everyone’s education,” said Kayatejano, an 11-year-old sixth grader at Walter Reed Middle School in Studio City. “They need to focus more on learning and lessons than on their phones.”
Los Angeles Unified, the country’s second largest school system, was not the first to take this step, but it was heading towards the cutting edge of what was even a bipartisan, international avalanche.
The mobile phone ban also applies to smartwatches and devices that can send messages, receive calls, and scroll through the internet. Phones are available on buses to schools, but are not permitted during lunch or breaks. Each campus decided whether to use the honor system and, if not, how to store or lock up the devices.
The outcome of the violation is not clearly spelled out, but the ban was wider and came into effect earlier than the deadline for California’s Call-free Schools Act. Under that law, the state’s 1,000 school districts, charter schools and county educational institutions must draft a student’s mobile phone policy by July 1, 2026. And administrators can choose to limit the use of mobile phones, rather than banning them entirely, like in LA Uniform.
As of Tuesday afternoon, LA School Board president Scott Schmerelson said he had only received four recent emails expressing concern.
“They understand – students shouldn’t make a call,” Schmerelson said. “They shouldn’t interrupt teacher lessons, but they worry about safety. They’re always mentioning school shootings. They’re always mentioning lockdowns. They’re always urgent. It’s referring to the situation. That’s what gets in the way.”
As of noon Tuesday, union president Maria Nichols, representing the principal, said she had not heard any complaints relating to the new rules from her membership.
All schools were ready by Tuesday, according to LA Schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho is pushed back to the second semester and manages the ban to set things up for the next few weeks.
By the end of the weekend, about 70 campuses had already observed the ban. Some have started in recent weeks. Some have been around for several years.
In an interview, Carvalho said the students would say to him: “I didn’t like the idea at first. It was a bit difficult for me, but now, for a school that you know, already started implementing in a few weeks – “I’m fine with that. I feel like I can concentrate more and actually play more.”
He added: “The teachers I spoke to give them a high mark because they feel the distraction level in school is going to be lower.”
That’s more or less what Kaya observed.
Before the ban, “people walk around with their cell phones during nutrition and lunch, and some people ride them during class,” Kaya said. Some people on Tuesday were talking a bit in class to keep them quiet without a phone, she said.
Not everyone was on the way. When Kaya entered Walter Reed, she cried out to the principal and passed two adults who recommended students. “Do you feel safe? You shouldn’t give these people a phone call.”
At least one student rebelled, leading to phone confiscation during physical education, and Walter Reed’s 8th grader asked not to name them. Before the ban, he said he noticed that his classmates were using their phones more and more throughout school as they got older. He did so, but only when the teacher allowed it after classwork was finished.
That wasn’t an option on Tuesday. One student brought a deck of cards instead.
Reed students reported that several students tried to break the magnetic pouch holding their phones. And several students allegedly lying to the point of falsely claimed they had no phones — but the majority complied.
Kaya’s mother, Jessica Kelly, is president of the school support group, Lead of Lead. Most parents she knows support the ban.
“As a volunteer on middle school campus two or three times a week, that’s a serious problem,” Kelly said. “Children are fascinated by cell phones, so they walk towards class and bump into people.
“The phones are ringing, lively, and confused class times,” she said. “Some kids also have the most inappropriate ringtones. Instead of learning, kids play games with the clock. Kids doom scrolling during lunch and don’t interact with their peers. This Addiction is real.”
She added: “To be honest, parents are just as bad. So many parents text/phone their kids during the day. Parents can’t go for six hours without talking to their kids mosquito?”
But Meghan Gohill, a ninth grade parent at Sherman Oaks Center’s rich research center, said the district is cutting back on learning tools.
In music classes, her son used his phone to “record himself, listen to songs, and also as a metronome,” she said. In the science class, students recorded the experimental results with photographs. To take notes, students took photos of the slides. Her son was “harmed by the ban on cell phones,” she said.
Approximately 800 schools are subject to the ban. Adult education and early education are exempt. About half of the schools chose to use the honor system. The phone is expected to simply be turned off and cleaned up. The other half uses a magnetic pouch. On this porch, students lock their phones when they arrive on campus, Carvalho said. The other half uses a different system, such as putting your phone in a locker or bin.
For Faith Perod, the success of the day was that she was allowed to keep her cell phone without any hassle. Faith, who is also a sixth grade student at Reed, has a hearing aid and a cochlear implant. She has a medical exemption as she can’t listen to the presentation and struggles to understand instructions in loud or chaotic situations, such as school emergency.
Her phone has an audio trans screver that can also be used to adjust the hearing device.
Carvalho noted that some students monitor their medical condition on their mobile phones. Some students studying English use mobile phones for translation.
Based on the experiences of early adopters, Carvalho said, “There is a transition period that lasts around several weeks where children have to constantly remember, and that is another learning behavior. When you do it, it becomes part of your standard. And I think we’ll see it.”
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