EAST LANSING, MI — Technology is good, but students don’t need their cell phone or AirPods in the classroom, so says East Lansing High School Principal Ashley Schwarzbek. In a report in the Detroit Free Press today, Schwarzbek recounts the positive progress at the school since it adopted stricter policies of mobile phone use before the 2022-23 school year.
“There really is no need for phones or other electronic devices like AirPods and things like that during instructional time,” Schwarzbek told the Free Press.
Per the report, a number of Michigan school districts have adopted similar policies limiting mobile phone use in the classroom and even school hallways. School administrators told the Freep they believe the devices are ultimately distracting.
“We saw a really positive change in our overall school culture last year, and it’s hard to tell, because we implemented several other initiatives last year around positive behavior support and other interventions,” Shwarzbek said in the Free Press story. “But teachers certainly commented on the increase that they felt in instructional time by not having to constantly redirect students on phones.”
Michigan has no state law on the books banning cell phones in classrooms. Instead, there is a patchwork of partial bans and guidance across various school districts, per the newspaper report.
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