Many students returning to Minnesota classrooms this year will find new restrictions in place on cellphone use.
A number of schools implemented policies on cellphones last year, but this year is the first that districts are mandated to have one.
District-wide policies provide consistency for schools and staff, said Jamil Payton, principal of Johnson Senior High School in St. Paul.
“One of the things that came up when we started around this time last year … was some teachers were like, ‘I’m down to do this, but everybody’s got to do it,’” Payton said. “‘I don’t want to be the teacher that’s going hard on this policy — or not just policy, I mean these expectations — but then when a student goes to the next class, the teacher lets them have their phones out, and then when they come back to me, they’re like, ‘Well, so-and-so let me have my phone out.’”
A “Phone Cubby” waits to be installed in a classroom at Oak-Land Middle School in Lake Elmo on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
At St. Paul Public Schools, the use of personal electronic devices is not permitted during school hours, but high schools can develop their own plans. At Johnson Senior High School, students will need to place their phones in phone pouches near the teacher’s desk and can use their phones only during passing time and lunch.
Parents need to sign off on the policy as part of back-to-school forms and signs will be up in school buildings spelling out the new rules.
Executive Chief of Schools Andrew Collins said at a SPPS board meeting Tuesday that he thinks there’s a “high level of confidence and readiness” on the new regulations.
Student behavior, attendance
White Bear Lake Schools rolled out their cellphone policy for the 2024-25 school year, which requires that students put their phones in cellphone sleeves at the front of the classroom at the start of class.
“It’s just a constant battle because students, again, as over the summer, they’re not going to have much restricted use, and we’re going to have to deal with that when school starts again,” said Russ Reetz, White Bear Lake High School principal. “So it’s going to be another major campaign on our behalf to remind students of our expectations and help wean them off that screen time.”
It was a “really successful year,” with fewer fights and social media-related conflicts among students during the school day, Reetz said. Improved behavior also meant less resources that staff were using to respond to what was happening, he said.
“Our attendance went up, our grades,” Reetz said. “We saw students doing better in the classroom, higher GPAs. And so all of that we attribute back to the fact that we didn’t have the distraction of the phone in the students’ hands.”
Students also seemed to use their phones less even when they were allowed to have them, such as lunch or passing time for high schoolers, said Nate Beulah, White Bear Lake High School associate principal.
Without cellphones, students can’t reach their friends unless they’re in class with them, which may play a part in attendance, Beulah said.
“If you can’t reach them, you can’t teach them. And so I think the cellphone policy offers the opportunity to have more kids in class initially, and then we engage them,” Beulah said. “We kind of turn the dream machine on, light the fire, and that’s the way we keep them in the class.”
‘They know we’re serious’
Stillwater Public Schools, which started its school year this week, doesn’t allow any cellphone use during the school day, including during lunch or passing time. For Stillwater High School science teacher Stacy Bartlett, that has meant less time telling students to put their phones away.
“In banning the cellphones, we’re painting everybody with the same broad brush,” Bartlett said. “And the benefit to it is, I don’t have to ask the students to put away their cellphone. They know that we’re serious, and I know they know we’re serious because they haven’t had their phones out. But we also missed the opportunity to model and teach when is it appropriate to have that cellphone out. The other side of that coin is that if the cellphones aren’t banned, then it’s going to be taken advantage of, the fact that there is some wiggle room in there. So we’ll see how it goes. But so far, it’s been really nice to not have to be fighting that battle.”
In the different districts and schools, students sometimes test boundaries – like wearing wireless headphones in a way that obscures them from the teacher or by bringing an extra phone to school.
‘Beneficial on a number of different levels’
At Hill-Murray School, a private school in Maplewood, some students initially tried to get around the use of Yondr pouches – a pouch that locks magnetically and is unlocked at the end of the school day.
But students don’t really fight the policy anymore, said Hill-Murray School President Melissa Dan, and school officials have seen an increase in student engagement and better behavior and performance.
It’s also improved safety and security in the school because students can’t covertly take videos of others without their permission, Dan said.
It’s still too early for districts and education officials to know the full effects of cellphone policies in schools in areas, but a number of administrators say they’ve seen positive effects.
“I think the group that appreciated it the most is the student body,” Beulah said. “Once we’re able to remove some of the barriers, distractions, or however you might see that, the classroom just looks, feels and sounds different. And when you walk into a classroom, the learning is happening and you see kids helping kids and it’s really beneficial on a number of different levels, but I’ve seen the most gratitude from the student body.”
Mary Divine contributed to this report.
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