On June 28, Los Angeles school board member Nick Melvoin discussed his decision to issue a phone ban across the LA Unified School District due to his observance of how often students are on their phone.
A policy implementing a complete cell phone and smart device ban was approved the same month, on June 18, by the Board of Education and will be stricter than previous laws requiring the elimination of phones in the classroom.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho stated that students have become “addicted” to their phones and it is a problem that “needs to come to an end.”
The California Phone-Free Schools Act, expected to pass July 1, 2026, is currently in effect across 1,000 school districts. This act allows individual schools across all of California to decide between a complete ban or certain restrictions regarding technology usage.
This act allows slightly more control over the implementation of a phone ban or regulations of cell phone usage.
The new policy will be a total ban of smart devices and is set to be enforced a year before the Phone-Free Act, starting the second semester of the 2024-2025 school year.
This policy was expected to begin in January, following their return from winter break, but was postponed to begin a month later.
Beginning Feb. 18, each school will implement their own form of a cell phone ban. The most effective methods include the usage of common magnetic storage pouches that hold phones, which students can carry.
Any device that is not a cell phone will be stored during school hours.
Magnetic cell phone pouches, commonly produced by Yondr and Faraday, block cellular signals and WiFi, making the use of phones increasingly difficult.
Each school can also decide between leaving phones in backpacks, locked storage units, or having a phone holder in their individual classrooms.
The intent of a ban across LAUSD is to limit any form of distraction and get students focused on their academia.
Schools will also apply the ban to smart watches and any device that uses cellular signals or WiFi.
Phones along with any other device that has the ability to send messages and/or access social media will be included in the ban. Earbuds and even smart glasses will not be allowed.
Regardless of what each school decides, students will not be allowed to access their phone at all. This would include during any break or lunch; anything within that school day will not affect the ban as long as it within school hours.
