SCHOOLS ACROSS Eastern Ohio are cracking down on student cellphone use after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 250, which requires every school district in the Buckeye State to implement a cellphone use policy.

Some area schools, including Bridgeport Exempted Village School District and St. Clairsville-Richland City School District, already had cellphone policies in place before the bill was signed.

St. Clairsville established its policy last school year. It requires students to turn their cellphones off and put them in their lockers. The only times of the day students are allowed to access their phones are before and after school and during lunchtime.

The policy applies to the elementary, middle and high schools.

“It’s actually working well and very little pushback, if any,” said Walter Skaggs, St. Clairsville superintendent. “We see a decrease in discipline issues and an increase in student interaction.”

He said the students are better able to be engaged in the classroom without the distraction of their cellphones.

Bridgeport High School Principal Jack Fisher said not a lot will change for his school. The existing policy is applied to elementary through high school students, and it is a strict no phone policy that has been in place for years. Although some staff had relaxed this policy, with the new bill the district plans to crack down and enforce it.

In the past, Fisher said, phones had to be turned off and placed in lockers, but it was up to individual teachers to decide how strictly they enforced the policy. Now, students will need to turn phones completely off, put them away in lockers and not access them during the school day.

Fisher said that applies from students’ arrival until the dismissal bell rings. It is a zero tolerance policy, so if a student were to have their phone out it would get sent to the office for a first offense.

Before starting work in Bridgeport last year, Fisher said, he worked at a different school with several cellphone rules that were not enforced like they are at Bridgeport, so he’s been able to see the difference. He said there is less usage of social media, which brings drama and texting, and he believes putting phones away benefits students in the classroom as well as socially and emotionally.

Barnesville Exempted Village School District is following the model policy the state is recommending, which is keeping cellphones in a secure place such as a locker or a or a closed backpack and prohibiting cellphone use during the school day.

Micah Fuchs, superintendent of Barnesville schools, said this policy will be implemented at the elementary, middle and high schools. Exceptions to this policy would include if a student is in a College Credit Plus class that requires a cellphone or needs a phone for medical reasons.

“This will get rid of some of the distractions and overall benefit the learning for students,” he said.

He also said it should help prevent issues regarding social media and bad behavior.

Union Local School District is also adopting the state’s recommended policy, which will be enforced in grades K-12.

“I can’t really see how it wouldn’t benefit the school. I think at the bare minimum, I think being pessimistic, it would be a neutral effect,” UL Superintendent Zac Shutler said. “I think being optimistic, we would see students more focused on instruction in the classroom. I think we would see less instances of social problems caused by cellphones, at least during the 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. hours. So, I’m optimistic that we’ll see some benefits.”

Shutler recommended reading a book titled “The Anxious Generation” to better understand why state legislators made the decision to limit cellphone usage in schools.

Martins Ferry City Schools is not making big changes to its policy. Students already are required to have their cellphones turned off during class time and put away in their lockers. In the past, students were allowed to access their phones before school and during lunchtime, but now the district is changing the policy to reflect what the state recommends, according to Superitendent Jim Fogle. He said the policy already in place has been beneficial.

“It’s been very beneficial because, you know, less distractions in the classroom there that way, it enables them to focus on the instruction that’s being delivered in the classroom,” he said.

Fogle doesn’t believe the change will make too much of a difference because the school’s policy already required students’ phones to be put away during class time.

“Our goal is to teach the state standard and educate our students the best that we can and with less distractions that are in the classroom, the better that instruction is going to be,” he noted.

Jennifer Bohach, chief academic officer at Switzerland of Ohio Local School District, said its policy was just adopted at last week’s board meeting. The policy prohibits students in preschool through eighth grade from using cellphones at all during the school day. However, students in grades 9-12 are permitted to use cellphones before the first bell and during lunchtime.

Bohach said the school system adopted the model the state recommended but made some adjustments to fit the district.

She said the reason for allowing grades 9-12 to have their cellphones before the bell and during lunch time is because students may need to get in touch with a parent if they have a younger sibling to drive home and plans changed or they need to make arrangements for extracurricular activities.

“Phones become such a distraction, not just with students, but with adults. With children it brings in a lot of outside drama when they’re trying to concentrate on school work. And so, you know, it’s a good move to help eliminate some of that distraction,” Bohach said.

The consequences for violating this policy will be progressive, meaning the first offense will be a warning with the student’s cellphone being stored away; for a second offense, the teacher or administrator would lock the cellphone away in a drawer; and a third offense would result in the cellphone being stored away for the remainder of the day and requiring a parent to pick it up.

The Harrison Hills City School District will limit cellphone use during instructional times as much as possible.

Ken Parker, principal for K-12 at Harrison Central, described its previous policy as “out of sight out of mind.” Now, however, students are prohibited from using cellphones during school time.

Parker said the school previously discouraged phones during class time, but now it will be consistent with the policy.

“I think they’re going to be more successful the more they’re engaged in lessons, they’re going to know more,” he said. “They’re going to have more success. And it’s just, you know, that’s what they’re here for. Here for an education. I think we kind of forget that they’re here to learn, and we’re here to train them to be the best they can be.”