HANNIBAL (WGEM) – Lawmakers in the Show-Me State are putting new policies in place ahead of next school year.
This comes after Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a bill into law on Wednesday that aims to make K-12 schools safer.
Michele McCoy, Hannibal Public School’s director of curriculum instruction, said the district got ahead of Kehoe’s new cell phone ban policy long before he signed it into law Wednesday.
The new law forbids cell phones for K-12 students from the time they arrive at school until they need to leave.
McCoy said the high school will only need to change one line in its policy handbook.
“[The policy] allows them right now to have cell phones during passing time and lunch,” McCoy said. “Which, we’ll have to change. But, we’re already in compliance with not having them during class time.”
Meanwhile, the middle school is even more ahead of the game.
Since the 2024-25 school year, cell phones have been forbidden all hours of the day, including lunch and between bells.
“Prior to last school year, we had used them for incentives,” said HMS Principal Stephanie Utterback. “Last year, we didn’t allow them at all. And actually, our students handled it well.”
Utterback said that as a result, they saw a drastic drop in students violating the “No Cell Phone” policy.
“They were more engaged in class,” Utterback said. “And we had less issues with negative things going on with the cell phones, whether it was students not being kind to each other, pictures that they didn’t want to have taken.”
Hannibal school officials said parents can always refer to the updated school policy on the district’s website.
Missouri schools will be expected to enforce the ban for the 2025-26 school year.
There are a few exceptions to the cell phone ban. They will be permitted in the event of an emergency, if a student has a disability, or if a teacher approves them to be used for classroom instruction.
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