Educators adjust to 'New territory' as bell-to-bell cell phone ban begins in NJ
By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... A bell-to-bell cell phone ban in New Jersey public schools goes into effect this school year [2026-2027] as governments within and outside the United States try to curtail social media's impacts on youth by limiting access in the classroom.
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The ban imposed through a 2026 law signed by former Governor Phil Murphy, will require school leaders to extend any existing limits on cell phone use in class - which many schools already had in place - to include lunchtime, bathrooms and corridors.
..... That has prompted some school leaders to say the law goes too far with policing technology, while others welcome it.
..... "We understand that this is new territory for our students to go the entire day without having access to their phones," said Laurie Newell, superintendent of the Paterson distinct, the state's third-largest.
..... "We're not trying to punish kids, and we're not saying we're no longer going to have technology in the classrooms, because we are," she said. "what we want to do is eliminate outside distractions."
..... so the first day of school - Wednesday September 2, [2026] for students in Clifton and some other North Jersey diarists - has been forecast to be an adjustment for kids who did not get the memo about the bell-to-bell cell phone ban.
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They will be expected to turn off and put away their cell phones, Apple watches and any "Internet-enabled devices" every day, according to the new law.
..... Exceptions exist for students who use their phones for medical or health-related purposes, students with learning disabilities, and those in certain other situations where parents might need to be in touch with their kids.
..... One-third of public school teachers say cell phones are a major distraction for students, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center study, though the most vocal critics of cell phones in class are high school teachers.
..... Among that group, 72% said students being distracted by cellphones is a major problem, compare with 33% of middle school and 6% of elementary school teachers. Scientific research has also shown that smartphones addiction and increased phone use while studying can hurt academic performance.
..... The law will inevitably wean parents and children form "unfettered access" to each other all day long, too, said Newell. Paterson is considering a pilot to see if Yondr pouches, i use since January 2025 at Ramsey High School in Bergen County, are a viable option, despite their high cost.
..... Yondr pouches seal phones off and they can be opened only with a tap against a magnetic unlocking mechanism. The cost of replacing a lost Yondr pouch in Ramsey is $30. for now, the Paterson and Clifton school districts in Passaic County and Northern Highlands Regional School district in Bergen County are having their students either put away their phones in lockers or in their backpacks or leave them in pockets that many teachers have provided for use in their classrooms.
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District leaders have written to parents and school communities advising them of the new policies and rules.
Anticipating push-back in Paterson
..... In Paterson, a low-income, urban district where cell phone communications is key for kids whose parents may be working late shifts or students whose parents rely on them to pick up or care for siblings, the ban has Newell "anticipating some push-back," she said.
..... The district reopens on Tuesday September 8. [2026] Newell met with representatives of the teachers' union and principals' and supervisors' unions in April and May [2026] to get a sense of their concerns and to invite suggestions on how best to implement the new policies.
..... The district does not want teachers to be policing the phones or getting into confrontations with kids, she said.
..... Parents in the Northern Highlands Regional School District - which includes high school students from Allendale, Ho-Ho-Kus, Saddle River and Upper Saddle River - received a sharply worded letter form Scot Beckerman, the district's superintendent, disagreeing with what he called the "one-size-fits-all" nature of he cell phone policy.
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It should be a local decision, not state-mandated, he told NorthJersey.com . Becherman informed parents that he would not put any financial resources toward implementing the ban in an already tight budgetary environment.
..... "Even though I may strongly disagree with the benefits that the state says will occur from the ban, Northern Highlands must adhere to the minimum standard that is required by law," he wrote in July29 [2026] letter to parents.
..... "Unfortunately, if a cell phone is seen or head during school hours, under NJDOE code, we will need to address it," he wrote. "simply put, while students are at school, their cell phone/personal electrons devices must be turned off and put away."
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Particularly inconvenient is that high schoolers in Northern Highlands use their phones to sign in and pay for lunch. "To say a student can't touch the phone really inhibits our ability to run the building," Beckerman told NorthJersey.com .
..... Clifton High School students will avoid those inconveniences, because students do not sue cell phones to sign in or pay for anything. they wear IDs with bar-codes, which can scan lunch payments and attendance check-ins, said Principal Ahmad Hamdeh.
..... Hamdeh said parents were generally receptive to the new policy, after he wrote to them about it in late August, [2026] but are concerned about how to stay in touch with their kids. Many said keeping the phones off or away during lunch was a "bit of an overreach by the state."
..... Hamdeh, as an administrator and educator, thinks the ban validates some of the school's work that was already in place to reduce distractions in class. "I'm excited to preserve our instructional time and our academic minutes with our students, because so many times in the past we've had students losing those minutes because they were on their phone or somehow districted," he said.
..... Clifton High School students were already required to put away phones when in class since February 2025, and "teachers who were consistent with it saw the policy as extremely beneficial," Hamdeh said.