SF schools won’t ban cellphones — yet. But the policy fight comes next

San Francisco won’t be joining the growing list of California school districts banning student cell phone use on campuses, at least not yet.

The city’s school board is expected to keep the current cell phone policy, which requires devices to be off and put away during instructional time and between classes, with a few exceptions. The vote ensures San Francisco Unified meets the state’s July 1 deadline for all districts to ban student use of mobile phones, smart watches or similar devices. 

But the board’s vote would also include a “do-over,” launching a months-long process to develop a cell phone new policy. That will include the creation of an ad-hoc committee composed of board members, educators, students and parents to provide policy recommendations, followed by another school board vote in January and implementation starting in the fall of 2027.

The goal is to pick a side in one of the more divisive debates in public education today: Should students have any access to cell phones while at school?

Many parents and educators here are pushing for a full ban to address the distraction of cell phones in classrooms as well as the students’ obsession with devices, which can, reportedly, limit personal interaction among young people and spur mental health issues and bullying.

Other families, educators and researchers have questioned a bell-to-bell prohibition of the devices, citing parents’ lack of access to their children in the event of an active shooter or other emergency, as well as the difficulties teachers have enforcing a ban. 

In addition, research varies on whether bans result in consistent academic gains or improvements in students well-being.

Unless the state decides for them, district officials ultimately will have to determine whether to allow some access to phones, like it does now, acknowledging parent concerns and the benefits of technology for learning and emotional support or whether to adopt a ban to eliminate texting, TikTok or other phone-fueled distractions.

In San Francisco, 88% of student, parent and staff respondents to a survey favored a more restrictive phone policy. At the same time, 92% of district workers said the less-restrictive policy currently in place is not consistently enforced.

“Cell phones aren’t inherently bad,” said Melissa Heatly, a New York-based child psychologist focused on school mental health programs in a September interview with the University of Rochester’s “Healthy Living” publication.  

“They’re powerful tools for communication and learning, but they can also be distracting and overwhelming for kids who are still developing self-regulation skills,” she said. “Schools hope that by limiting phones, they can protect focused learning time and emotional development while reducing unnecessary conflict.”

The decision to restrict or ban phones has implications for the vast majority of kids and their families. Just over 75% of parents of public school students across the country said their children bring a cell phone to school, according to the National Parents Union.

San Francisco district leaders can expect to see a range of questions, concerns and varied perspectives over the coming months as parents, educators and administrators take sides in the to-ban or not-to-ban decision.

Here’s what to know before the debate gets going:

San Francisco Unified’s “mobile communication” policy allows students to have phones, smart watches or other devices during the school day, but turned off and out of sight. The exceptions to that include a threat to safety, permission from teachers or administrators or if deemed by a physician or a student’s special education plan to be necessary.

Prior written consent is required before taking pictures, film or video of students and staff.

Unauthorized use could lead to phone confiscation, disciplinary action or requiring a parent to come to get the phone.

But several city schools, including James Lick and Everett middle schools and Thurgood Marshall Academic High School,  have adopted more stringent policies, including bell-to-bell bans, which in some cases mean students lock their phones in secure pouches for the day.

The state’s Phone-Free Schools Act requires districts to adopt a phone policy by July 1, with “significant stakeholder participation.”

District officials said the timeframe of the law did not allow for “meaningful community engagement” before the school board vote this month, so community feedback is going to happen this fall, before Winter break. In addition to the ad-hock committee, the process is expected to include communication with families already involved in the issue and an online survey.

Just over 20 states have adopted a bell-to-bell phone ban so far and in California, many districts, including Los Angeles Unified, have done the same locally.

Sacramento legislators are considering legislation that would require districts by July 1, 2027, to adopt a no-cell phone policy for all elementary and middle school students while they are at school or under the supervision of school staff. All public high schools would be exempted from the required ban. 

Support for banning phones during school hours is significant with 70% of principals, for example, believing such a policy improves the overall culture, according to the Harvard Kennedy School. That includes keeping students more focused, reducing bullying and harassment while improving academic achievement.

Teachers report students being more interactive with a ban in place and some research has shown academic gains following the elimination of phones use in schools.

“This is not a controversial issue along partisan lines,” said Harvard Professor Paul Peterson, director of the Program on Education and Policy, in a university Q&A earlier this month. “There is widespread consensus that this is something that should be done, given the decline in student performance in our educational system over the last 15 years or so.”

Teachers are also generally supportive of the bans, but with an asterisk on the ability to enforce them, requiring educators to address any violations in their classes, including the possession of a second phone in case the first one is confiscated or locked away for the day.

The process to adopt a new policy would need to address that problem, district officials said.

The research on whether phone bans improve academic performance and student well-being is mixed. The first statewide ban was adopted in Florida in 2023, meaning the data is still sparse to come to significant conclusions. Some studies show test scores improved after policies eliminated the use of cell phones in schools. Other research shows minimal if any improvement.

An April 2026 National Bureau of Economic Research study looked specifically at school sites where pouches were used to lock up phones during the school day, rather than those that allowed students to keep them, but not use them.

With the phones locked up, teachers reported fewer distractions, but the policy had little to no effect on test scores, attendance, classroom attention or online bullying, according to the three-year study.

In addition, Florida saw an increase in suspension rates in the year after the ban was put in place, although the rate dropped to previous levels during the second year, according to Peterson. 

In the Bay Area, educators and administrators have raved after their schools went old school, returning to learning in a cellphone-free environment.

Students are “talking to each other, they’re laughing, they’re getting to know one another,” Mt. Diablo Unified Superintendent Adam Clark said in the fall of 2024 after four high schools in the Contra Costa district adopted a ban. “It’s really amazing that it’s a simple thing but has such a wide impact.”