(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin lawmaker wants this to be the last school year that begins with cellphones in the classroom.
Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, released a column that outlines what he says is the need for a cellphone ban.
“There is a push in several states to push cellphone restrictions in the classroom. From red to blue states, legislatures across the country are coalescing around the idea that too much screen time is a negative mental health outcome. More succinctly, they are a significant distraction in the classroom and lead to a loss in learning,” Knodl wrote.
Currently, local schools set their own rules for cellphones in schools.
Some school districts have district-wide policy, while others allow principals in individual schools to set their own rules.
Green Bay Schools, for example, allow some high school students to use their phones when they are not in class.
Waukesha Schools allow students to bring phones to school, but say they must be “stored out of sight” during classes.
West Allis-West Milwaukee banned cellphones in class at the start of the 2022-2023 school year in an effort to cut down on the number of fights in school.
Knodl said it is clear that cellphones in school pose huge problems.
“Teachers are constantly battling with students over cellphone use and enforcement and punishment policies vary wildly leading to confusion from school to school and district to district,” Knodl added. “I plan to propose a new state law to alleviate this burden on our teachers and to take away this distraction from our students. I believe this will be a positive policy reform in our schools.”
Knodl hasn’t introduced that legislation yet, but there are some examples that Wisconsin could follow.
“Last year, Florida passed the first state law to limit cellphone use. Their law bans cellphone use during instructional time and the school’s Wi-Fi prohibits access to social media sites,” Knodl explained. “Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia have followed suit. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, signaled he would sign a bill going through their legislature. In addition, the largest school district in the nation, New York City, will follow through with these restrictions this upcoming school year.”
