Arlington School Board members Thursday night (Dec. 12) voted unanimously to implement a bell-to-bell ban on student use of phones in county schools starting Jan. 6.
“Our schools are places of learning,” Superintendent Francisco Durán said just before the vote, saying his recommendation was “a policy that will protect that instructional space.”
Board members voted 5-0 to adopt the staff recommendation made by Durán without any changes.
As part of his recommendation, there was a last-minute carve-out applied to the new policy and associated implementation procedures. High school students will be allowed to have “brief” access to their phones in designated areas during non-instructional time, most likely around lunchtime.
Giving students limited access under controlled conditions gives the policy a “level of nuance that I think is important,” School Board member Cristina Diaz-Torres said in supporting the proposed change as recommended by Durán.
One by one over the course of 20 minutes, the five Board members laid out their reasons for supporting bell-to-bell restrictions. Several expressed hope the policy change would result in fewer distractions for everyone in the school environment.
“Our job is to educate students,” Board member Bethany Sutton said. She said the presence of phones is “inhibiting student learning” and contributes to other challenges at schools.
“In order to change the culture … and refocus on education, we need a universal approach,” Sutton said. “I’m confident we are moving in the right direction.”
Each high school principal will have the autonomy to set the specifics of the time and place of the limited phone accessibility, but Durán said he does not want to have “great discrepancy” between the schools.
Another change made since the proposal was first vetted in mid-November was to require that high school students put their phones away when they arrive in the morning, rather than having access to them until the first instructional period starts.
Nearly every board member said they had listened carefully to the views of students, parents and staff, and were willing to consider revisions as needed down the road as the policy begins operating in real-world conditions.
For months leading up to the final vote, Board members had found themselves lobbied heavily on the issue.
“This particular one issue has generated more feedback … than any other issue that has come before us” during her three years on the board, Chair Mary Kadera said.
“There are multiple needs and perspectives,” she said. “I have been very torn.”
One reason leading to Kadera’s support for broader phone-use restrictions was concern raised by teachers, who for years have had to serve as “phone police.”
Removing that responsibility will allow educators to focus on their primary mission, Kadera said.
“We’re tasked with creating the conditions in which teachers can do their best work,” she said. “This policy feels necessary and appropriate.”
The new policy supplants interim measures that have been in place since the start of the 2024-25 school year. It will go into effect when students return from the winter break.
The policy also provides accommodations for students with disabilities who need access to communication devices.
The policy brings Arlington Public Schools into compliance with an executive order issued in July by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R). That directive gave the Commonwealth’s 130-plus school divisions until the end of 2024 to have restrictions on phone use in place.
In September, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) issued guidance to school districts on expectations for local policies and their implementation.
Despite significant community discussion on the issue in recent months, the meeting at which the decision was made brought out only a few members of the public to weigh in.
Among those attending the Dec. 12 meeting was Neil De Bruyn, a social studies teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, who was supportive of the away-for-the-day policy.
Thomas Jefferson has served as one location for a pilot program where students store their electronic devices in pouches in their lockers during the school day. De Bruyn said that was not the only way to implement a phone ban, but said it has worked at his school.
Restrictions on phone accessibility have resulted in “noticeable improvements in student behavior, focus and classroom engagement,” De Bruyn told School Board members, adding that consistency in enforcing the rules “is crucial” to ultimate success.
As late as last month, some School Board members seemed open to considering an alternative that would have provided more student access to phones during parts of the school day outside instructional periods. But Durán consistently advocated for more restrictions along the lines of those being sought by Youngkin and VDOE.
“Is everyone going to be happy with this? No,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback, a lot of different opinions.”
