Davis school board moving to phone-free junior highs. High schools may prove harder
The Davis Joint Unified School District is preparing to tighten campus cellphone restrictions next school year, with junior high and high school students facing significantly stricter limits on when they can use their phones.
District staff outlined the proposed changes during a workshop at Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting as officials considered whether to expand existing rules adopted to comply with a 2024 state law requiring school districts to regulate student mobile device use.
District policies for the 2025-26 school year already meet state requirements, but trustees are considering broader restrictions.
Under the district’s current policy, cellphones must be “away for the day” at elementary schools. At junior high schools, phones must be away during classes and passing periods, but students may use them during lunch for communication purposes only. At Davis high schools, phones must be away during class time, but students may use them for communication during lunch and passing periods.
The board requested last month that district staff expand cellphone limits for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students and strengthen enforcement of the policy for grades 10-12. District staff returned to the board on May 7 with more information about what staff and the public want cellphone policies to be.
Scott Thomsen, DJUSD’s chief technology and operations officer, and Matt Duffy, the district’s executive director of secondary education, presented the results of a survey of junior high and high school staff. Most reported that they wanted to see more restrictive cellphone policies.
More than 80% of junior high staff members surveyed said they would support more restrictive policies, Thomsen told the board. Among high school staff, more than 94% said they were in favor, he said.
The district’s technology advisory committee met last month to review survey results and discuss logistical issues, including consistent enforcement, the challenges posed by open campuses and budget constraints, Duffy said.
Next year, the city’s junior high school campuses will have a more restrictive policy that includes limiting cellphone use during lunch. Students will be required to power down or silence their cellphones and keep them in their backpacks until the end of the school day.
At junior high schools, district staff intend to provide “alternate activities at lunch to give students opportunities to interact and engage with each other in social settings not involving digital devices,” Duffy said.
Trustees unanimously approved the existing elementary school policy, which requires phones to be “away for the day,” and adopted the new junior high policy. They also voted to make high schools phone-free, but asked staff to return June 4 with recommendations on how to implement the policy on open campuses.
The vast majority of high school staff, 86%, said phones are a distraction from learning. Most reported strong support for making enforcement more consistent and effective, but three in four said enforcing the policy has become an added burden on teachers.
High school students who participated in feedback sessions about the cellphone policy said the guardrails of the policy were not clear to them and are not always enforced.
“Many do see the policy as reasonable in theory, but inconsistent in practice,” Duffy said.
High school students also reported that enforcement of the policy is a distraction because teachers must interrupt lessons to direct students to put their phones away.
Davis high school students “also report that there are times during the day when they feel they legitimately need to access their phone for communication related to jobs, activities and family,” Duffy said. “And that they would like to be trusted as responsible users of their devices.”
Parents and trustees agree on harms, benefits
Board trustee Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald said she supports an “away for the day” policy because it supports both students and teachers.
“I really want our kids to spend time learning and engaging with each other,” she said.
Trustee Elizabeth Moon said she also supports an “away for the day” policy for all grade levels, but said the restrictions need to be adapted for the open-campus policies at Davis high schools.
Board Vice President Lea Darrah agrees with the proposed change to junior high schools, but “there is still quite a lot to work out at the high school level,” she said.
The board is particularly concerned about enforcing the policy at Davis High School. If it implements an “away all day” policy, “we will need to work diligently with our Davis High staff to come up with a process they can commit to,” Superintendent Matt Best said. Without teacher buy-in, the policy is unlikely to be effective, he said.
Six people spoke in favor of cellphone restrictions during public comment Thursday. Most were teachers, therapists or doctors who work closely with children and said they have seen the negative impact of phone use in schools firsthand.
Most parents Dr. Allison Buss sees in her practice report that they believe their teens’ screen time is negatively affecting them, said Buss, a local pediatrician. Most of the teens she sees report the same thing, she said.
“I find that teens are surprisingly insightful about how having constant access to technology is harmful,” Buss said. “But most express that they do not know how to get away from it.”
Because there are wide variations in how parents seek to limit their children’s access to technology at home, “for many kids, school time may be the only opportunity for them to take a forced break from online content,” she said.
“Changing the policy is not about punishment, it’s about protection,” said Selma Cooper, a licensed marriage and family therapist, who also spoke at the meeting.
The policy protects children who are easily distracted, who suffer from anxiety or who may face bullying online, she said. Without cellphones, children can connect with each other and be more present, she said.
“Schools should be places where children are free to learn and grow, not places where they’re tethered to the pressure of the digital world every minute of the day,” Cooper said. “This policy gives them that freedom.”
