Students brainstorm ideas while school districts must have policy in place to comply with state law.
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High school junior Elise Nerlich sat in a circle with a handful of other students at Longmont Museum one day in March, trying to come up with ideas on how schools should regulate cell phone use during the school day.
Should they ban them altogether, allow them during lunch and free periods, or stow them in a cubby in the classroom without touching or looking at them until the day’s classes end?
“Phone usage is a really big problem in school, but definitely also a thing that is hardly to be avoided since sometimes you need your phone to get a ride, to get picked up … it’s really important to have your phone sometimes,” Nerlich said. “On the other hand, it is really distracting.”
She and about 80 other students from St. Vrain Valley School District met at the museum for the sixteenth annual “Doing Democracy Day,” where students work on solutions to community issues. There is a new state law that requires schools to have cell phone policies in place by July. They also looked at tobacco and vaping, AI usage, minimum wage adjustments, e-bike regulation and the use of surveillance cameras.
After 10-minute presentations offering their solutions, a panel of judges responded with questions and feedback, and then were tasked with picking a winner, according to Justelle Grandsaert, a social studies teacher at Silver Creek High School who also co-coordinates “Doing Democracy Day.”
The law, Communication Devices in Schools, requires school boards to develop and implement a plan on how devices will be used during school days. The law applies to cell phones and watches with internet capabilities, but not tablets or laptops.
Sponsored by State Representatives Meghan Lukens and Mary Bradfield and State Senators Janice Marchman and Lisa Frizell, it was signed last May and went into effect in August. With a $0 price tag and no lobbyist opposition, it’s set to be implemented right before the 2026-2027 school year begins.
Ideas students offered
After students’ prep time wrapped up, teams went up on stage to present their ideas, of which there were many. Students suggested:
A policy that doesn’t go no-phones-at-all: “It works great in some cases, but we feel that if you take away the phone completely, it’ll create a bigger issue of students not going to class.”
A case-by-case decision-making policy: “Having open communication between instructors and students who need their phone for accommodations to assist with medical or physical conditions.”
Consequences for violating limited use policies: “A three strikes style of enforcement will help mitigate phone use if it becomes an increasing problem,” said one student; “the first warning will be a reminder; the second warning, the teacher can take it away. And then the third warning, it goes straight to the office and a parent or guardian has to pick it up,” said another.
A policy making phones available as needed during emergencies: Putting the phones in “designated phone spots in the classroom where the students would place their cell phones and wouldn’t be able to access them as a distraction,” but they would be accessible in case of a lockdown.
Teach good cell phone usage in health class along with other lessons on good self-care.
Give students an opportunity to see how it feels to teach distracted students: “How would you feel if your teacher was on their phone and you were giving a class presentation that was graded?” one student asked during a team presentation. “Would you think that the teacher should be able to have their phone out and check it?”
What the law requires … and why
According to the text of the legislation, research showed that high uses of social media can lead to depression and anxiety. “The general assembly declares it necessary for each charter school and local board of education to adopt and implement a policy concerning student communication device possession and use during the school day for health, safety and welfare of students,” the law states.
Built into the legislation are exceptions in cases where having and using a phone in school would be necessary, for example, for students with disabilities, to use as an instructional device (for example, for people who use it to help communicate with others if their native language is not English), or to place a call seeking emergency services. It also allows for rules within a district to vary based on students’ grade level, with rules potentially being different for high schoolers as compared to elementary students within the same district.
The cost of implementing the new law will come in time, not money: According to the fiscal note, “The bill increases workload … to conduct public outreach and adopt and implement a cell phone policy across the charter schools under its supervision. This additional workload does not require new appropriations.”
“This bill really acknowledges that local control is really important,” said Lisa Frizell, a Republican State Senator representing Parker and Castle Rock, who was one of four sponsors when the law was in the bill stage last year. “Stakeholding between children, parents, teachers, and the school district is important to the success of this.”
She said it’s great the Democracy day event allowed students’ views to be heard.
“Students are at the table because obviously, they’re a very important part of the equation,” she said.
Adults are proposing ideas as well
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteDenver Public Schools board member Marlene De La Rosa says the district has created an advisory committee to study cellphone use.
Marlene De La Rosa, a member of the Denver Board of Education representing Northwest Denver, said the board has created an advisory committee “to get feedback from the community about what the policy should look like for Denver’s public schools,” which includes about 200 schools educating close to 90,000 kids.
The advisory committee has been meeting since January about once a month, with its next meeting set for Tuesday. The advisory committee will submit a proposal to the board later this month.
She said she’s heard that students would like to have their phones in their bags, so they can get to them if there’s an emergency or if they need to access a personal email they can’t read on school-issued laptops.
Currently, schools have a less formal set of rules, said Kimberlee Sia, another member of the school board and advisory committee.
“Some have complete bell-to-bell, no-phone policy,” while others may allow students to use them during lunchtime and free periods. That could continue as uniformity within a district is not required: “The policy could be that the whole school district does the same thing. The policy could be, it is a school-based decision,” she said.
Some ideas sprouting from community meetings match ideas offered by students: putting the phone in a pouch container in the classroom, having access to it at lunchtime, keeping it pocketed during the bulk of class, but having access to it once school work has been completed.
An opponent to most students’ ideas
All of those ideas contradict the position taken by Krista Spurgin, executive director of Stand for Children Colorado, a non-profit organization that works to advance policies in K-12 education.
“Our ask to districts statewide is to consider policies that are district-wide, away-all-day policies,” Spurgin said. “The reason for that is improved mental health for students, improved academic outcomes, improved school culture, improved attendance, lower discipline [problems].”
Her reasons focus on what students didn’t discuss much at the Democracy event: the impact of cell phone use on teachers, who have to try to re-focus students after they’ve been distracted between classes with what they read on their phones.
“It puts a lot of the onus on the teachers to police the phones,” she said. “What just happened in the hall … they’re undoing that distraction that just restarted, or the spat that just happened, or whatever was just seen on social media … It takes about 20 minutes to refocus once a kid is distracted,” she said.
“Even [during] lunchtime, we’re hearing bullying continue, because the bullying’s happening on the phone, whether it’s the filming or the social media, the cyber bullying, the heads-down, the non-eye contact, the lack of social interaction amongst their peers,” are among the reasons she’s in favor of a district wide, K-12 ‘away-all-day policy, she said.
Blame-The-Teacher The Idea that Failed – and who won
Concern for teachers’ instructional experience wasn’t much on the minds of the students at the event in Longmont in March. On the contrary, one student said the decision on what to do with cell phones should hinge on how interesting the teacher makes the class.
Elaine Tassy/CPR Ne
