WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A state task force suggests that Kansas schools cut screen time. The recommendation to ban cell phones in schools from the day’s first bell to the final bell of the day comes as many districts and schools are already implementing their own cell phone policies.
In making the statewide recommendation, the state task force on screen time believes that students shouldn’t have access to their phones throughout the entire school day, indicating that distractions outweigh benefits.
Mission Valley High School student and Blue Ribbon Schools Task Force on Screen Time member Ava Gustin is among Kansas students in favor of a cell phone ban. She said she wishes she wasn’t surrounded by phones at school.
“I strongly believe that if phones weren’t so prevalent in my high school or so prevalent in society, this wouldn’t have been so harmful,” she said, discussing experiences that included an eating disorder diagnosis when she was 15.
The state task force on screen time voted in favor of a bell-to-bell cell phone policy at all levels, a ban that would deny students access to their phones, even during passing periods or at lunch.
“You’re really not talking or communicating with peers, even at your lunch table,” Newton High School teacher Carole Budde said of students’ on their phones between classes.
Budde, also a member of the Blue Ribbon Schools Task Force on Screen Time, said she worries that when phones cover students’ faces, they miss out on real conversations.
“There are so many kids that that’s not in their world, that’s not in their realm,” she said. “Where their world is a virtual world.”
Students who spoke with 12 News about the task force’s recommendation shared mixed reactions, saying they understand the benefits of cell-phone-free schooldays but point out areas in which their phones are essential.
“You can go look up stuff. Sometimes we forget our computers and it’s just good to have a phone,” said Wichita East High School student Britney Velasco.
The state task force will present its recommendations to the Kansas State Board of Education next month. The board then will decide what to do with those recommendations. Ultimately, the decision on whether or not cell phones will be banned in Kansas schools will be up to the state BOE.
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