Brown: School cellphone restrictions are working, but we must go further

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As summer ends, it's a good time for Minnesota high school students to prepare for the new school year. Get up early. (How about earlyish?) Wear pants with buttons and zippers. (Whatever, old man.) Finally, go without a phone for most of the day. (You first.)

That last one might be the most daunting. Even adults struggle to put down their phones, myself very much included.

Last year, Minnesota required school districts to create formal policies for student phone use during the school day. The state didn't tell them which policy to adopt, but most schools implemented strict rules banning cell phones in the classroom, some banning them from first to final bell.

This year, schools are not only keeping but often expanding these policies.

Districts have good reasons. Phone restrictions lead to better classroom engagement, academic performance and school culture. This is according to local principals and superintendents, but also the latest scholarly research.

In July, scientists from the U.S., Denmark and India published a paper titled "Removing Phones from Classrooms Improves Academic Performance." The study tracked nearly 17,000 college students around the world last year, finding that phone-free classrooms do make a difference. The biggest academic gains were among low-performing students, first-year students and non-STEM students.

High school students seem to respond in a similar way, according to school officials. If anything, limiting access to phones during school hours is even more important at younger ages.

At Mounds View High School in Arden Hills, ninth graders failed 74% fewer classes in the 2024-25 school year, a feat that principal Rob Reetz partially attributes to the cellphone ban.

If you think about a plane, it's not going to get to its destination if it doesn't take off," said Reetz. "[Improving classroom engagement] sets the norms and expectations for being a high school student.

But academics are only one aspect of the policy's success. Disruptive behavioral issues also declined, with Reetz saying the number of fights at Mounds View fell from 29 to five after the new policies. Why? Social media often amplifies conflict.

Meanwhile, Bemidji High School principal Jason Stanoch said that without Snapchat, students made fewer "poor choices" regarding vaping or skipping class.

Schools are moving in the same direction in limiting phone access, but they do not agree about the extent of the policy.

At Mounds View and Bemidji, phones are banned in the classroom but allowed during passing time and at lunch. Reetz said that this is a more manageable task for staff to enforce.

"If you have inconsistency, you don't have a rule," said Reetz.

Stanoch said a more flexible standard teaches personal discipline.

Zero tolerance doesn't build responsibility and understanding, so kids can't regulate themselves," said Stanoch. "I think it allows us to teach them responsibility so they can mature.

At the same time, some schools are moving toward zero-tolerance, so-called "bell-to-bell" cellphone policies.

Nevis, a small K-12 school in west central Minnesota, is trying a stricter policy this year, banning phones not only from classrooms but also from hallways between classes. They will allow students to check phones during lunch.

Kids understand that it's consistent and structured," said Ranae Seykora, superintendent of Nevis School. "We haven't heard any complaints so far.

Stillwater High School is going even further, recommending students to leave their phones at home, in their car, or — if they must — in lockboxes that are opened at the end of the day.

Our board took a stance for student engagement but also sent a message that we care about our kids' mental health," said principal Robert Bach. "We're not going to contribute to that issue while we have the students.

Here we find the heart of the issue. What are phones doing to kids? And, by extension, what are phones doing to all of us, almost 20 years after many adults got their first smartphone?

Heads down, mired in our own addictive videos, games and workplace apps, we tell tall tales about how we’re in complete control. The administrators I talked to said that some of the strongest complaints about phone limitations came from parents worried they’d be unable to communicate with their kids during the day.

Seykora said her own family points out times when she responded to work emails at home.

I think this should also be a lesson to parents and other adults that the phone, even though it gives us access and something to do, in kid terms it's still 'the brain rot' if we get sucked into it.

Last year, my son Doug was a senior at Grand Rapids when the high school implemented a bell-to-bell cellphone ban. I asked him how he and his peers felt about the change. After the first few weeks, he said it was no big deal for him or his friends, confirming what many principals said about their students.

To be honest, if anyone is corrected for overusing cell phones in our house, it's me. Doug sometimes calls me "Timmy Two-Phones" because of my work cell. I am learning the value of limitations. If I'm part of something where my presence and attention are important, I leave the phone behind. Frankly, I should do this more often.

Limiting our use of these addictive devices won't just benefit kids. It will ease many problems in our troubled society.

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