The Juneau Board of Education is considering a districtwide cellphone policy as conversations around their use ring across the state and country.
The concern is tied to phones in schools perpetuating bullying and distracting students, according to school officials. Cellphone bans are currently being considered by the state department of education and the Alaska Legislature. Schools in the Anchorage School District have already implemented cellphone restrictions.
It’s also a discussion happening nationally, and the Juneau School District wants staff, students, and families to weigh in.
“I think that the goal of any changes would be to improve the learning environment, and to help kids and students be more engaged in the classroom, and reduce inappropriate behaviors,” Kristin Bartlett, JSD’s chief of staff, said. “There have also been instances where the use of cellphones has alerted students to fights or other things that complicate the learning environment. And maybe if they didn’t have such a quick way to spread information, those things wouldn’t become so disruptive there.”
An anonymous survey will be emailed by next week to gauge how staff, families, and students feel about the use of cellphones. It will also be accessible for community members to take online. No change would take place until next school year, according to Bartlett.
She said it will be “a bit of a balancing act” if the regulation from the state moves forward and/or Senate Bill 18 passes. Local officials will strive to follow the requirements and laws, while still accommodating the needs of families and students. Some schools, such as in the Mat-Su, have students lock their devices in pouches so they can possess them while avoiding distraction.
David Noon, the chair of the board’s policy committee, said the survey will be factored into decision-making. The Juneau Board of Education would have to approve the policy.
“I’m interested in making sure that we’ve got a lot of public input, and input from the kids and parents and teachers in the district,” he said. “Making sure that we’re creating a policy that actually serves the needs of all the people who are in and involved with the district.”
Deedie Sorenson, the school board president, emphasized at a Jan. 30 policy committee meeting that JSD already has policies for cellphone usage, but for individual buildings. The policy adjustment would make the rules consistent across the district.
Laura Scholes, the assistant principal of Thunder Mountain Middle School, said students are required to keep cellphones in their lockers during the school day with the exception of six students who have medical permission.
“Being middle schoolers they often just hide them on their person,” she said. “The biggest problems are that what they do is they either get a text or get on games under their desk, or they’ll go into the bathroom and miss class because they’re sitting there texting or playing games on their phones.”
She said the consequences are a student’s phone will remain in her desk all day on the first infraction and on the second offense Scholes calls the family to retrieve the device.
“It’s a huge distraction and it’s also a huge component of cyberbullying,” she said. “We haven’t had any fights for a long time at Thunder Mountain, but they’ll film fights that are at other places that involve our kids and post those.”
Scholes said the biggest problem she sees is that parents feel safer when their children have their phones on them. But she said that if there was an emergency at TMMS, students alerting their parents could get in the way of first responders reaching the school quickly. She said the school would notify parents, and there’s a landline in every classroom and the TMMS office if a student does need to call home.
“From my perspective having phones locked down, completely out of this building, would be a huge help for educators,” Scholes said. “They don’t have the maturity for the most part to be able to handle having social media in the school and still focus. I have worked at the high school and they are a little bit more mature.”
Paula Casperson, the principal of Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé, said individual classroom teachers currently implement varying cellphone expectations.
“I would happily support a districtwide policy,” she said. “Consistency in expectation for all school-age students would provide support for families in their expectations as well.”
She said phones are distracting to many users, regardless of their age, and that is true in schools, at the workplace, and in vehicles.
Casperson shared a similar point of view with Scholes that limiting access to phones in school may help alleviate some cyberbullying, but “we also have to recognize that cyberbullying extends beyond phones and beyond the school day.” She said she finds the research screen time has on developing minds “compelling.”
A U.S. Surgeon General report released in 2023 stated social media has significant impacts on mental health in adolescents and called for action from policymakers. In 2024, a Pew Research Center survey found that most teens use social media and have smartphones, with nearly half reporting they are online almost constantly.
The next school board policy committee meeting is scheduled for Feb. 25.
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356.
