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A bill requiring North Carolina school boards to adopt policies restricting student cell phone use during instructional time cleared a state House committee Tuesday.
The House Judiciary 2 Committee approved House Bill 87 on a voice vote. The bill would allow individual school districts to create their own policies regarding cell phone restrictions.
The bill differs from Senate Bill 55, which passed the Senate earlier this month and is far stricter. The Senate bill would require local education agencies to implement policies that ban students from using “wireless communication devices” during instructional time. The bill defines a wireless communication device as “any portable wireless device that has the capability to provide voice, messaging, or other data communication between two or more parties,” including cellular telephones, tablet computers, laptop computers, paging devices, two-way radios, and gaming devices.
During Tuesday’s committee meeting, several members of the public called for a “bell-to-bell” policy, which generally means restricting phone use from the start to the end of the school day.
“Our children need a policy that provides strong guardrails all day to keep them from this addictive behavior, particularly between classes, when they are vulnerable to mental health insults from inappropriate content and cyberbullying,” said Mary Ann Tierney, a nurse and executive director of Safe Tech NC.
Lina Nealon, a national expert on child online safety and a parent of Durham public school students, also voiced her support for a “bell-to-bell” policy. “When kids’ faces are pressed to their phones outside of instruction time, they lose moments of closeness and critical thinking,” Nealon said. “A bell-to-bell policy would prevent second-hand smartphone harm.”
But the bill’s sponsors — Republicans Neal Jackson, Brian Biggs, Mike Schietzelt, and Blair Eddins — say they would leave it to individual school districts to decide how to implement the policy, opposing a one-size-fits-all approach.
Opponents of the bill have argued that limiting cell phone access could prevent students from communicating in emergencies. Tech advocates contend that restricting devices could stifle new avenues for learning.
Currently, around 77 school districts in North Carolina have their own cell phone policies, according to legislative staff. The proposed bill would require all districts to implement a policy.
The bill includes exceptions for:
- Remote charter academies
- Remote academies
- Virtual charter schools participating in a pilot program authorized by state law
The bill now heads to the House Rules Committee before potentially advancing to a full House vote.