As Oregon school districts prepare to enforce a statewide ban on student cell phone use, some districts that adopted the policy early say the transition has gone more smoothly than expected.
The mandate stems from Gov. Tina Kotek’s executive order requiring districts to bar student phone use during the entire school day. While districts must comply by Jan. 1, several chose to adopt the policy at the start of the school year to avoid a mid-year shift, giving them an early look at how students and staff might adapt.
The governor’s office said the policy aims to help students stay focused in class and support their mental health. The office said educators across Oregon report that phones disrupt learning and interfere with teaching.
For many districts, the biggest shift will be in high schools, where students will no longer be allowed to use their phones between classes or during lunch.
Some superintendents were initially worried about enforcement issues and whether students would skip school to use their phones, but Three Rivers Superintendent Dave Valenzuela said the rollout has gone better than expected.
"The adoption process for students, in terms of the way they accepted it, was a lot shorter than I anticipated," he said. "I’ve actually gotten positive feedback from students, believe it or not, and overwhelming positive feedback from staff and parents."
Klamath County School District reported similar results, noting fewer behavioral problems and social media-related issues. That includes Mazama High School and Henley High School, where principals say students are more engaged during class and more social during breaks.
"I’ve noticed more on-task behavior during instruction, less behavior problems during breaks and lunches and definitely more face-to-face interaction between students," Mazama High School Principal Jennifer Hawkins said in a statement.
Henley High School Principal Jesse Hamilton also described the transition as largely successful.
"We still have kids who try to have their phones and push the envelope," he said.
With the new policy in place, Valenzuela said it had an unexpected side effect — noise complaints during lunch.
"It was because kids were just talking. And so you got a table of kids talking over here, table of kids talking over here, they're talking over each other. It just got noisy," he said. "That was a positive outcome."
Three Rivers hasn't seen perfect compliance. Valenzuela said North Valley High School has logged about 500 first-time violations, compared to only a handful at Illinois Valley High School. He attributed the difference to each school's approach to enforcement.
Not all districts that implemented the policy this fall have seen drastic improvements. Brookings-Harbor Superintendent Helena Chirinian declined to comment through a spokesperson, saying she had not yet seen notable changes.
Valenzuela said cell phone use hasn't completely gone away.
"When the bell rings and those kids get out of the campuses, their phones pop right out of their pockets or bags," he said. "They wait till the end of the day to use them, and then they're using them."
