Hillsborough School District considers new cell phone policy for 2024-2025 school year

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. - Hillsborough County School Board members are considering changes to the district’s policy on cell phone use in schools.

District leaders are hoping to build upon guidelines rolled out at the start of this school year, which largely allow principals in upper-grade levels to set their own limits on cell phones.

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That’s led to a patchwork of policies across the district, which can vary from not allowing cellphones unless given explicit permission from a teacher or administrator, to having designated times or locations where students may freely pull out their cellphones. 

Some board members say they’d like to see more uniform guidelines to create consistency. 

School board member Lynn Gray, who drafted a new set of rules and discussion items for board members in a workshop held Tuesday, says the schools and districts that limit cell phones the most have seen huge improvements in academic performance and behavior. 

"Would academic performance increase when cell phones are removed in schools? Absolutely. I have the data that supports that. Will their mental disposition, anxiety, depression be mitigated? Absolutely. The data is overwhelming," said Lynn.

"Various school districts have put together tighter policies regarding cell phone use in schools. Pasco County, Pinellas, Orange County for sure. I just spoke to an Orange County School Board member, and she has said the fighting, the bullying, the academics have greatly improved."

Several board members said they supported a flexible policy that still allows a bit of autonomy to individual schools.

"I'm 100-percent in agreement with Ms. Gray that we've got to limit screen time usage, but I want to make sure we do that with giving the authority to the teacher and to the principal and how they do that per their schools, by maintaining our policy that it's not to be used during instructional time," said board member Patti Rendon.

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Board members also acknowledged cell phones aren’t the only wireless devices causing issues in school.  They plan to include language in their new policy that addresses smartwatches, wireless earbuds, tablets, laptops, and any other connected devices they may start seeing more of in the future.

Board members are hoping to have a set of new guidelines to vote on by their June 4th meeting.