2 Genesee County districts ban cell phone use for students during academic day

GENESEE COUNTY, MI — A pair of Genesee County districts have made the move to prohibit students’ use of cell phones and other electronic devices during classes ahead of the new school year.

Officials with Mt. Morris Consolidated Schools and Flushing Community Schools recently announced on social media that they are banning the use of these devices for several reasons.

A letter from Mt. Morris Schools Superintendent Mickie Kujat states the district’s new cell phone policy, effective Monday, Aug. 25, the first day of school, allows students to bring cell phones or other electronic devices to school, but they may only access them before or after classes.

“We did not make this decision lightly,” Kujat said. “As an administrative team, including our Board of Education, we reviewed and studied the research around the impact of cell phones.”

The superintendent pointed to social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation,” which seeks to explain why rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm have surged among teens, especially since 2010.

Kujat noted Haidt’s book points to early access to smartphones and social media, loss of unstructured play and real-world social experiences, increased adult overprotection, and poor sleep caused by screen time as main causes for the decline in teens’ mental health.

Possible solutions for parents and schools, Kujat said, include delaying smartphones until high school, delaying social media until at least age 16, supporting phone-free school policies, and encouraging independent, outdoor play.

Kujat said Haidt urges parents and educators “to work together to rebuild a childhood rooted in real-world experiences, resilience, and relationships—not screens.”

Electronic devices, including but not limited to MP3 players, cameras, tape/CD players, video game devices, iPads, notebooks, tablets, eBooks, personal laptops, laser pointers, radios, pagers, beepers, walkie talkies (long/short range), portable CB radios, portable short-wave radios, portable police scanning devices, and their earphone attachments, such as, but not limited to, earbuds, Bluetooth, and headphones, must be powered off and stored out of sight in lockers during the academic day.

Kujat referred parents to their child’s school handbook for additional information, including consequences for violating the new policy.

A message left by MLive-The Flint Journal for Kujat was not immediately returned.

Elsewhere in Genesee County, students at Flushing High School will be banned from using cell phones or other electronic devices during the academic day when they return on Aug. 25.

Beginning with the first day of school, Flushing High is implementing a new building-wide “Bell to Bell, No Cell” policy.

The policy notes phones must be put away during all class time — no texting, calling, music, social media, video or any other non-academic use will be permitted.

It applies in classrooms and hallways during instructional periods, and includes tablets, iPads, personal laptops, headphones, and earbuds.

“We’re committed to providing a focused, respectful, and engaging learning environment,” a post on the district’s Facebook page reads. “We appreciate your support in reinforcing this policy at home.”

District Superintendent Matt Shanafelt said the reason this only took place at the high school is there is already a policy in place that cell phones are not allowed to be used at the elementary school level.

At the middle school level, Shanafelt added there has been a standing policy in place for the last few years that cell phones can only be used before school, after school, and during lunchtime “that’s been incredibly successful.”

“It’s really just the high school that needed an adjustment so that we could really focus on instructional time, limiting distraction, and helping our kids,” he said.