Some parents and teachers want phone-free Portland schools. The district just took the first step.

Apr. 21—Portland schools leaders are taking up new cellphone policies this spring that would prohibit all students from having a phone on campus, from the first bell to the last. Current district policies say high schoolers can use electronic devices between class periods and during lunch.

But a vocal group of parents and teachers wants to keep phones out of students hands through the entire school day, falling in line with a national trend toward limited phone use in the classroom. Portland teachers have told the school board that combatting cellphone use in their classes is a stressful and common part of their job. "As somebody who, every single day, has to take away phones in my classroom .



.. and lose so much time every day haggling with kids, I don't think it's even a developmentally appropriate task to ask, 'Hey, can you put the world's most addictive machine that has ever been created in your pocket while I'm trying to teach you?' They can't.

They just can't," Mallory Haar, a Casco Bay ESOL teacher, told a school board committee last week. "I really feel excited that this can move out of the purview of individual teachers and admins into something more unified," she said. If the policy does pass as proposed, it will still be up to the central office to develop rules and schools to create plans for implementation.

Portland's Curriculum and Policy Committee unanimously voted last Tuesday to advance the policy to the full school board, where it will need a first reading followed by a formal vote. Board Chair Sarah Lentz said she is planning to schedule a first reading for the board's next business meeting on May 6. A CELLPHONE-FREE PORTLAND David Burke is the parent of Portland schools alumni and a former Casco Bay High School teacher who still works in the district as a substitute.

He believes cellphones are the greatest, current threat to education. "This is the most significant health crisis that schools have ever faced," Burke said. "When we were dealing with smoking back in the '80s and '90s, not everybody was smoking.

But 96% of the students nationwide across every socioeconomic group have these phones." Burke is a member of the group Phone-Free Portland Schools, which was inspired by a similar organization in Falmouth. Members have been circulating a petition in support of a phone-free policy, which has more than 150 signatures after a few weeks of circulation.

Portland would be far from the first school district to enact a cellphone ban. Other districts like Bath and Gorham, have already passed similar rules. Eight states, including California and Florida, have passed bans or restrictions in the past two years, and several others are actively taking up the issue.

The idea is also being discussed at the Maine State House. The Legislature's Education Committee heard testimony last week on a bill, sponsored by Rep. Richard H.

Campbell R-Orrington, that would ban cellphone use in all public school classrooms. The committee also considered two separate proposals to establish a pilot program to reduce phone use in schools and to study their effects (along with AI and social media) on public education. Lawmakers will still need to discuss the bills again during a work session, which has not yet been scheduled.

GATHERING FEEDBACK Groups of parents, students, teachers and administrators have been meeting since as early as summer of 2024 to discuss possible changes to Portland's phone policy. A first policy revision, presented to the board's Curriculum and Policy Committee in March, would have only taken students' phones at elementary and middle schools, but still would have allowed high schoolers to carry their phone throughout the day. Burke and other advocates urged the committee not to adopt the policy and advocated instead for a stronger plan that would ban cellphones at all levels, all day, and the committee postponed the matter.

It convened again last Tuesday with a stronger draft in hand, one that says students may not have phones or other personal electronic devices on their person at any time during school hours. "To assist with this, the Superintendent or their designee will develop a process of collecting cellphones and other communications devices for safe storage at the beginning of the school day and redistributing devices after classes," the new proposal reads. "Administrators may take away and place into storage any electronic device seen in a student's possession during the school day in violation of this policy.

" View this document on Scribd The policy encourages students to leave their phones at home whenever possible and creates a process for them to seek limited exceptions. Director of Strategy Sarah Warren said there are still outstanding questions, like the exception policy, the way phones would actually be collected and how schools would handle students who travel to different campuses throughout the day. Burke and other phone-free advocated supported the newest draft in public comment.

But some school administrators said they're worried about how this will impact their work. Portland High School Principal Sheila Jepson said she wasn't sure where she stood. "I worry what this will take away from my day, my assistant principals' day, my teachers' day," Jepson said, adding that she's also worried students haven't had enough of a voice in the revision.

Mina Fitzgerald, the student representative for Portland High School, said she felt the process had been rushed and argued that enforcement will be difficult. "I have a lot of concern about the longevity of this policy, as well as who it truly benefits," she said. Lentz said these conversations began almost a year ago, and that the district heard input from parents, families and schools throughout the process.

"That doesn't mean that we don't continue to get input. In fact, that is what I would recommend, that we continue to get more voices as the table to really build out our policy," she said. "But I also just want to reiterate .

.. there are multiple districts in Maine that have already made this switch.

It can be done and the benefits they're seeing are really incredibly positive." Copy the Story Link.