By: Michael Achterling (ND Monitor)
North Dakota student leaders say they have a lot of unanswered questions after lawmakers passed a law requiring schools to be cellphone-free.
Members of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Student Cabinet met Wednesday in Bismarck to discuss new legislation that will affect students.
Senate Bill 2354, which takes effect Aug. 1, prohibits public school students from having access to cellphones and other electronic devices in school from “bell to bell.”
But the students raised a lot of questions lawmakers may not have considered. Some students said laptops provided by schools are “horrible” and wondered if they could continue using personal laptops to do school work.
Another student said she views digital versions of her textbooks on a tablet so she doesn’t have to carry heavy textbooks all day.
Yet another student said she’ll miss using her phone to access the digital calendar she uses to keep track of homework, after-school practices and appointments.
“I see a lot of uncertainties with a lot of the exceptions the students were bringing up,” said Bridger Rivinius, a junior at Gackle-Streeter Public School. “I feel like it might be a slight overreach for the state government to have to be involved with that.”
Gov. Kelly Armstrong was among the supporters of the bill. He has said it will help the next generation of students emotionally and academically.
The law requires cellphones to be silenced and stowed away in an inaccessible location during the school day. It gives school boards flexibility to craft their own policies around school-related noninstructional time, such as dances and sporting events.
It also mandates that school districts collect data to measure the impact of the new policy on student behavior, mental health, disciplinary incidents, school attendance and academic performance.
Gwyn Marback, a facilitator for the student Cabinet, said she expects there will be some “fumbles” as school boards try to address issues with their new policies.
“They (state lawmakers) didn’t think of everything,” Marback said. “Hopefully, there’s common sense when things arise.”
Sophia Johnson, a sophomore at Bismarck Legacy High School, said her school has an open campus policy that allows students to leave school during lunch or a free period, which could be an issue in implementing the policy at her school.
“It might be a bit of a disaster,” Johnson said. “We have the open campus and we really want to focus on the 21st Century learning and that involves using our phones.”
She said some courses, such as media class, require students to use their phones to participate.
“All of that stuff is going to be really inhibited by this,” Johnson said. “It really should be up to the teachers because they know their students the best. They know what’s happening in their classrooms and they know how to work their students.”
Aidan Pelton, a senior at Watford City High School, said his school already implemented a zero tolerance cellphone policy. He said kids still have their phones in school, but fewer than before the policy was implemented.
“I like the bill. I just think there’s going to be a lot of problems with it,” Pelton said. “I don’t really love the less control at the school level. But, I think it is overall a good thing to have no phones in schools.”
Addyson Rademacher-Nyame, an eighth grader at Mandan Middle School, testified in favor of the legislation at the Capitol. She said she finds it encouraging that each school board will be able to craft its own policy.
“It’s going to be very interesting, especially this first try. It’s going to be good to see the positive and negative results of it right away,” Rademacher-Nyame said.
She said legislative fixes might be needed during the 2027 session to address problems that arise from implementing the bill.
“Every school in North Dakota is different,” she said. “I want to see every angle about how every school developed and adapted to this bill and we’ll go from there.”
