DENVER — Denver Public Schools will ban student cell phones and other communication devices for the entire school day starting next school year, after the DPS Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt the new policy Monday night.
The ban covers the use of cell phones, smart or electronic watches, wireless earbuds, personal tablets, laptops, and any other personally owned portable electronic communication devices.
The policy was drafted in response to a state law requiring school districts to implement a policy by July 1 concerning student device use during the school day. A DPS survey sent to parents, staff, and students in May showed 64% of respondents supported an all-day phone ban. However, 97% of students said they did not want it.
DPS parent Jamie Chesser said cell phones have become a major distraction at her 6th-grade daughter's school.
"They are extremely distracting in a classroom environment," Chesser said. "Thinking about teachers and how incredibly difficult it must be to not only have to teach but then have to monitor cell phone or device usage in the classroom and balance that. I have to believe that that's incredibly difficult."
Vista Academy teacher Dr. Maria Falcón, who teaches 6th through 12th grade special education, said an all-day ban makes more sense than allowing students to have devices during passing periods and lunch.
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"Every single class, collecting phones, handing them back out, collecting, like that's a process that's time-consuming, and that's unnecessary. So, if we just do it from the beginning of the day till the end, that alleviates a lot of the stress that it would place on teachers," Falcón said.
However, some parents, like Tamika Galloway, said they should be able to reach their child at any time for safety reasons.
"There have been too many times that my kids have called me to pick them up early because of perceived threats, and they've always turned out to be true," Galloway said.
DPS Board of Education President Xóchitl Gaytán said the policy allows the district superintendent to connect with parents about how to get updates during an emergency.
"The superintendent is going to have to continue to work with administrators and educators to continue to improve communication between the school and students and their families so that we are sharing more information as we're pulling devices away from students," Gaytán said.
She said the superintendent will work out the details of phone storage before next school year and carve out exemptions for multilingual students who rely on technology for translation.
"I think it's going to afford the kids focus, better mental health success in their studies, and better peer-to-peer connection, as well as adult connection," Chesser said.
