BEAVERCREEK — Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said Tuesday that he supports a proposed bill in the statehouse that would ban student use of cellphones during the school day.
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Senate Bill 158 would “ban all cellular telephone use by students during the instructional day.”
“It’s clear that we need to get cellphones out of our classrooms,” DeWine said.
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The bill is an extension of what DeWine asked of districts around this time last year: to find a plan for cellphone use in schools.
“Access to cell phones during school hours negatively impacts student learning and academic performance,” DeWine said.
As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, the governor and several other state officials talked about the negative impacts on a student’s mental health.
“We’ve seen through various social media apps that they are addicted,” State Senator Jane Timken said.
Former Second Lady Tina Husted said she’s compared cell phone usage “to smoking in the 40s and 50s.”
Several Miami Valley districts, including Beavercreek City Schools, started using Yondr pouches to hold students’ cell phones during the school day.
“We think it’s a great move for our schools to remove probably one of the biggest distractions our kids face every day,” Paul Otten, Beavercreek City Schools superintendent, said.
Timken said that on average, high school-aged students get around 11 notifications per hour. The pouches get rid of the temptation to check them.
They’re already in effect for Beavercreek High School students and Otten said after just a year of using them, he’s already seeing a difference in his schools.
“The best part about it is the interaction that we see among our kids that has - it’s kind of been revived, that feeling of camaraderie with our kids,” Otten said.
News Center 7’s Mason Fletcher also heard from parents concerned about their students having their phones during an emergency. Otten said that as fast as misinformation can spread, he feels more confident in students following the directions of school employees.
State lawmakers hope to have the bill passed and signed into law in time for the 2025-26 school year.
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