Competing for the attention of tweens and teens is not a new battle for teachers. But as the use of cellphones by middle and high school students has surged in recent years, many teachers have begun to admit defeat.
Tired of the immediate and near-constant disruptions that cellphones pose in classrooms, as well as the adverse effects they can cause beyond school buildings (from online bullying to increasing rates of anxiety and related mental health challenges), many school officials and policymakers have begun to crack down on their use during the school day. (Even so, there is not yet much research on whether cellphone restrictions in schools work.)
About half of all states have passed legislation restricting or outright banning cellphone use by students during the school day, and more are likely to follow. In the rest of the country, some principals aren’t waiting for legislators to give them the green light to curtail students’ cellphone use during school.
These early adopters are moving ahead with policies to ban or restrict personal device use during the school day; many of them debuted at the start of the 2024-25 school year. No two cellphone policies look exactly alike. The methods and policy details vary widely.
But every school that chooses to initiate a more restrictive cellphone policy in the coming months or years will need to get key constituents on board—teachers and staff, parents, and students—in order to make the policy a success. Here’s how three administrators did it.
Getting staff members on board
Teachers tend to be the easiest constituents to convince of restrictive cellphone policies’ merit. In fact, many teachers support restrictive cellphone policies that extend from bell to bell, according to a 2024 survey by the National Education Association.
“Teachers gave a standing ovation when we announced that we were doing the pouches,” said Peter Balas, principal of Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., whose school participated this year in his district’s pilot to ban cellphones during the school day.
Students lock their cellphones in magnetic pouches upon entering the school building, and unlock them as they leave. The pouches stay with the students, some of whom choose to personalize them with drawings or stickers. Inventory numbers on the pouches allow the school to keep track of them.
Tony Cattani, principal of Lenape High School in Medford, N.J., and a finalist for the 2026 National Principal of the Year, said at the end of last school year, he brought together his staff of 225 in small-group “solving circles” to answer the question: What is one thing we could do next year to get better?
The staff responded unanimously: a clear and strict cellphone policy.
Then, throughout the summer, administrators and staff worked together to develop and implement a policy that required students to put their cellphones in pouches during instructional periods. Students can use their phones in the cafeteria and other non-instructional spaces.
“We felt like all the teachers needed to be on the same page and consistent to help support one another in this big move,” Cattini said.
Middle school principal Inge Esping knew her teachers wanted support getting kids off their cellphones during class. She took the issue to the leadership team in her building.
“I needed to know we were all on the same page,” said Esping, principal at McPherson Middle School in Kansas, and the 2025 Kansas Middle Level Principal of the Year.
“No matter what the rule is, what the change is, we want to make sure that we’re all going to be able to live and abide by it,” said Esping, whose school’s new policy, implemented three years ago, formalized the expectation that students keep their cellphones in their lockers the entirety of the school day.
Selling the policy to students
With students, Esping approached the ban as an opportunity, not a punishment—an important distinction to the adolescents. Teachers used their time in student advisory periods during the first few weeks of the 2022-23 school year to discuss the newly enforced policy.
“We talked with them about the data behind why we were making that decision,” said Esping. “And we talked about how our goal is to continue to focus on increasing our academics. We told them: ‘We know that we have incredibly bright students at our school, and we want nothing to get in the way of you achieving what you need to achieve.’”
Balas engaged some of his high school students even earlier in the process.
“We met with our student government leaders and our class representatives over the summer,” he said. “By the end of our conversations, they were like, ‘OK, I see why we’re doing this. We’re gonna be able to sell it to our classmates.’”
Bringing parents into the fold
Selling the idea to parents proved toughest.
“The parent feedback was really split 50-50,” said Esping. “We had about half of our parents who were incredibly excited for this change, and about half of our parents that were very nervous.”
In addition to ramped-up communication the summer before the policy was implemented, Esping opened up opportunities for parents to spend more time than ever before on campus. The school held its first-ever back-to-school event for families and began a program called Parents in Partnership, allowing parents to volunteer more frequently during the school day, which Esping said “really helped alleviate a lot of those nerves.”
Cattani said about eight to 10 parents were “on fire” about not being able to connect with their children constantly throughout the day, and especially during a crisis.
“When I talked about our crisis plan and explained that a cellphone isn’t going to be the thing that prevents or saves students, it was helpful,” he said.
Balas said getting parents on board with the cellphone ban was probably his administration’s biggest challenge, and admitted that the late decision and subsequent announcement by the school didn’t help; parents learned in August about the policy that began in late September.
“They wanted to know: How do I get a hold of my child, who I’m used to talking to all day long, even during class,” said Balas, who held several open meetings where parents could air concerns.
It also offered a chance to discuss best practices during crisis situations. “It was just a lot of frank discussion about best practice—the one thing your kids shouldn’t be doing in an emergency is texting, head down, not paying attention or listening to directions,” he said.
Outcomes: Was it worth it?
Establishing and sticking to strict cellphone policies proved a big task that involved buy-in from students, teachers, parents, and leadership. But early results suggest it’s worth it.
“They can focus on their work, our grades are up, our conversations and classes are better, and we’re getting to a better routine,” Cattani said. “We’re not perfect with it, I promise you that. But we’re a lot better than where we were.”
Esping called the changes at her school “pretty wild.” Chronic absenteeism rates dipped from 39% to 11%; suspensions dropped by 70% since the school began enforcing the policy three years ago. Esping believes the policy is in large part responsible for the positive statistics.
“Now, when I say hello to students,” she said, “they’re more likely than before to say ‘hello’ in return.”