This school year has brought noticeably stricter policies regarding student use of phones and chromebooks across nearly all classes. Students must now store their phones in designated phone charts, while computer usage has become more restricted. You may know from teachers and conservatory directors that this is based around a new state policy, but what is the bigger picture here?
In 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Phone-Free School Act into law, requiring all K-12 schools to restrict phone usage on campus.
“We know that excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues – but we have the power to intervene. This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not their screens, when they’re in school,” said Governor Gavin Newsom.
The policy, however, left schools to decide how much, and in what ways, it would need to be limited. Students in the Los Angeles Unified School District are facing the extreme, with a complete ban on cellphones and social media throughout the entire school day.
Rather than implementing new restrictions, CSArts decided to strengthen the existing policy. With ninth-grade classes already using similar phone limitations and receiving positive results over the past few years, the practice was expanded campus-wide. CSArts conducted extensive research to ensure that student needs would be met, gathering input from the California Healthy Kids survey, working with students on the Operations Committee, and talking to parents and teachers.
“Teachers have been pretty positive about the changes and saying that they have noticed student conversation picking up,” said academic principal Mrs. Read.
It’s expected that the benefits from these policies will continue, and that the restrictions won’t be going away any time soon.
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