As NJ ponders action, schools take cell phones out of students' hands

By: Marsha A. Stoltz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... With the school year just weeks away, New Jersey districts are improvising how to control student cell phone use while awaiting state action on bills intended to cerate uniform policy guidelines.
.... Governor Phil Murphy called for a statewide ban on cell phones in public schools during his State of the State address in January. [2025] The resulting bills, S3695/a4882, however, if approved, will only instruct the state commissioner of education to develop guidelines within 90 days of the bill's enactment.
..... Some school districts, such as Ramsey, rather than wait for the state to take action, have taken matters into their own hands and enacted policies on how to keep cell phones out of students' hands during the school day. Other districts are following suit.
..... The Senate bill passed in January, [2025] and the Assembly bill was reported out of its Education Committee with amendments in March [2025] for a second reading. No further action has been reported.
..... Meanwhile, Murphy has proposed the creation of a $3 million Phone-Free Schools Grant Program through the state Department of Education to be released "later this year. [2025]
..... New York State's budget for school districts that need financial help purchasing cell phone storage equipment s $13.5 million.
..... The state's Education Department cerated a Commission the Effects of Social Media Usage on Adolescents in July 2023, Department spokesman Michael Yaple said "its focus is not about social media's impact on mental health and academic performance. The commission has yet to issue a final report or recommendation. The commission's chairman, Charles Gelinas, a member of the Westfield Board of education, said he would like to see a total ban on student cell phones in schools, although no such proposal has been issued by the group.
..... "When the phone is off, we're still thinking about it," Gelinas said. "so it's disruptive even if it's turned off and stowed away."
..... Ramsey schools require the younger students to keep cell phones in backpacks and high school students to use security pouches that are locked during school hours. Ridgewood, one of the first districts to take action, enacted mandatory student cell phone restrictions in September 2024.
..... Not all school officials agree. Brigantine School Superintendent Glenn Robbins said taking cell phones from students is "an incredible disservice."
..... "I have to prepare them for what's next, and what's next is ingoing to have technology in there," Robbins said. "If we expect students to thrive in a future where smartphones and AI are everyday tools in the workplace, we must teach them how to sue these technologies responsibly in the classroom today."
..... Meanwhile, the state's professional education agencies, including the New Jersey School Boards Association, the New Jersey Education Association for teachers and the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, have not issued guidelines, deferring to passage of the state bills.
..... In January, [2025] the New Jersey State Bar Foundation cited a 1989 state law penalizing students for bringing remotely activated paging devices into classrooms as the legal basis on which schools can make up their own rules.
....."There's no right to have that equipment in schools," advised education attorney David Rubin, of the Busch Law Group in Metuchen. "If school districts wan to ban it, they are free to ban them or restrict them within reasonable limits.
..... But what is "resonance" continues to be debated

National, state concerns on cell phones in schools

..... While New Jersey has not yet hopped on the student cell phone control bandwagon, an estimated 31 states and the District of Columbia have adopted rules for their school districts to restrict or ban their use in schools.
..... New York City will begin restricting use for some 1.1 million students in its 1,600 public schools in September, [2025] prohibiting "personal Internet-enabled electronic devices" during the school day, not only in class but in gym and the cafeteria.
..... Estimates are that "most" New Jersey districts have adopted some kind of student cell phone policy, but exact numbers and the scope of rules are not yet known. State officials are waiting to see if Murphy's proposed ban will encounter distinct to make their polices stricter, or include an increasing array of watches, tablets and other personal communication devices that provide Internet, email and social media distractions for students.
..... Fairleigh Dickinson University conducted a poll in February [2025] suing Princeton;s Braun Research to assess opinions on student cell phone limits that drew responses along some definitive cultural lines:
*AGE: Respondents 65 years and older favored a ban (65%) compared with 30% of those 30 and younger.
* Party: Republicans were more likely to support a ban (56%) than Democrats (39%).
* Race: White voters were most likely to support a ban (51%), compared with Hispanic voters (43%) and Black voters (29%).
..... The chief objection of parents to cell phone bans is the difficulty of reaching their children in the event of an emergency, most often identified as a school shooting. Police departments argue that mass use of cell phones during emergencies ties up lines needed by first responders, distracts students form following administration directions and may even give away student hiding places if one rings while a perpetrator searches a building for victims.
..... But parents argue they otherwise must wait hours to determine there child's status while police pursue the necessary but time-consuming assessment of the building and its occupants. Phones can be programmed to identify their location. But students may be separated from their phones, which cannot report their health status.
..... While class distractions is the driving aim of restrictions, privacy ranks a close second in a sampling of school district rules in five North Jersey counties.

Bergen County schools take action

..... Ridgewood - The county's largest school district, with 5,604 students in 10 schools, began mandatory cell phone restrictions in September 2024. elementary students must place their phones in their backpacks. Middle school students must store their phones in lockers, and high school students must surrender phones in door pocket caddies upon entering classrooms, but can use them between classes.
..... Ridgewood Schools Superintendent Mark Schwartz said the program has been "very successful" and will continue into the fall of 2025. He said parents continue to express concern about reaching their children during an emergency but that being able to contact the student "is not necessary going to improve their safety.
..... Ramsey - The 2,418-student, seven building school district began district-wide cell phone restrictions in January. [2025] As in Ridgewood, Rqamsey students in Kindergarten through fifth grade must store devices in backpacks. Students from sixth to eighth grades must store them in lockers. High School students are required to place their phones in security pouches that automatically lock on entering the building and can only be unlocked remotely at stations in the cafeteria and adjacent "upper gym" at lunchtime and when leaving the building.
..... Schools Superintendent Andrew Matteo said there was a "fair amount of push-back from students who felt the use of cell phone pouches was too restrictives," an issued addressed in small-group discussions "to encourage students to work with us."
..... "Implementing this midyear made it extra challenging, but the first six months have gone as will as I could have hoped for," Matteo said.
..... "If you walked through the halls before and after this initiative, the contrast would be stark. Students were more engaged with one another, and teachers report positive outcomes."
..... Matteo said there would be "some small adjustments to procedures,' but that "we look forward to beginning the year with the plan in place."

Essex County schools take steps

..... Montclair - In June, [2025] the Board of Education unanimously approved two new policies for its 6,200-student, 11-building district on "use of privately owned technology" and for "the sue of electronic communication and recording devices" after voting last August [2024] to delay implementation of a pilot program using locked phone pouches similar to those used in Ramsey.
..... Instead, an "off and away" policy will be initiated this fall [2025] at a location designated by each school where turned-off phones must be stored securely in bins or lockers, not the student's pocket or backpack.
..... Superintendent Ruth Turner said high school students will be allowed to use their devices "during lunch or any open campus periods when off school grounds."
..... Newark - The state's largest school district, with 42,000 students in 63 buildings, first adopted a cell phone policy in 2018, modifying it in 2019. Currently, cell phones must be turn off and put away at all times during the school day.
..... Making calls, taking photos or recording videos is prohibited. Students who need to communicate with parents during the day must sue a phone in the main office.

Passaic County schools address student cell phone use

..... Paterson - The county's largest school district, with 26,000 students in 44 buildings, allows students to have cell phone in schools, but they must be turned off during class unless they are being Video and audio recordings "may violate legitimate process," the district said. They are prohibited on school grounds, on transportation and at school events, said Director of Communication Aida Rosario.
..... Prospect Park - The 834-student, two building Prk-K to grade 8 school district uses classroom holders to which students surrender their cell phones on entry. They can have their phones in the cafeteria, but cannot make calls or take photos with them.

Morris County schools address cell phone use by students

..... Parasippany-Troy Hills - Morris County's largest district with, 7,200 students in 14 buildigns, requires students phones to be turned off or silenced and stored in a "secure location" such as a locker or backpack. Photographing or recording students is prohibited, particularly for non-school-related purposes in private areas like locker rooms or bathrooms.
..... Mount Olive - With six schools serving 4,752 students, the district allows high school students to bring cell phones to school, but they must be silenced during the day. The rules for middle school students area stricter, as cell phones must be stored in lockers at all times, including lunch.
..... Mendham Borough - The district serves 498 students in grades K-8 in two schools. It requires students to leave their cell phones turned off and in their lockers during the school day, and during before - and after-school activities. At issues is the fact that the lockers do not have locks. The Board of Education does not accept financial responsibility for private property in lockers.
..... West Morris Regional High School District - The district serves 2,116 students at two schools: West Morris Centrl, serving Washington Township, and West Morris Mendham, serving Mendham Borough and Township and Chester Borough and Township. The schools quarrier students to leave their cell phones in "phone caddies" on entering classrooms. They can use phones between periods and at lunch.

Sussex County's efforts to deal with cell phones in schools

..... Sussex County has adopted a county-wide policy for all its school districts. Cell phone must be powered off and stored throughout the instructional day. Usage on a bus is prohibited, as is photographing or recording students or staff.

The debate continues

..... A study published in February [2025] by the National Institute for Health and care Excellence concluded that cell phone bans among 1,227 student in 30 British schools did not improve student academic performance or sense of well being. Students merely shifted the average four to six hours they spent on cell phones and social media to other times of the day.
..... "We did not find a link between more time spent on phones and social media and worse outcomes," the study concluded. "But we need to do more than focus on schools alone, and consider phone sue within and outside of school, across a whole day and the whole week. School polices are not the silver bullet for preventing the detrimental impacts of smartphones and social media use."
..... And as a final :back at you,: the Cherry hill Board of Education adopted a new policy in January [2025] prohibiting its members from using wireless communication devices, including cell phones, during its meetings.

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