Many of today's students grew up on screens before we knew the impact on brain development and mental health. Then their education and social-emotional development was interrupted by COVID. Students deserve the chance to learn, grow and connect in the real world. They deserve – they need – phone-free schools.

Phone-free classrooms would help kids focus on academics, and phone-free passing periods, lunches and recesses would further benefit kids by helping them develop face-to-face communication skills and healthy friendships.

A 2023 study from Common Sense Media found that 97% of kids use their phones during school hours, and that cellphone policies are inconsistent and not always enforced. This is also the case throughout the Madison Metropolitan School District. 

A district-wide, full-day phone ban would help:

• Teachers: Teachers would be able to focus more on instruction without having to police phone use.
• Mental health: According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory, “There are ample indicators that social media can have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”
• Reduce cyber bullying: No phones = less opportunities to take and share photos of classmates without their consent.
• Safety: Without the distraction and noise of phones, kids are potentially safer in the event of a school emergency.

Orange County Public Schools enacted a full-day phone ban in the 2023/24 school year and have seen "remarkable change," including a "31% decrease in student fights." The Los Angeles Unified School District enacted a full-day phone ban in February 2025. Edgewood High School in Madison announced plans to provide a "phone-free campus" for the 2025/26 school year. 

Please sign this petition to show MMSD the community support there is for a district-wide, full-day phone ban in Madison. Let’s create a better learning and teaching environment for our kids. 

What Educators Are Saying
 
"Cell phone use in schools has gotten out of control. It's gotten to the point that students don't talk face to face, but instead text one another when they're sitting right next to each other! I joined forces with Board Members Melvoin and Ortiz Franklin to sponsor this resolution because research tells us what we already know: excessive cell phone use impacts students' mental health and academic performance. It's time to update our policy and make it a district-wide responsibility."
-L.A. Unified School District Board President Jackie Goldberg

“When I visit campuses during lunchtime, my heart breaks to see students sitting alone, isolated on their phones instead of engaging and learning with their peers. I am proud to co-sponsor this resolution as it marks a significant step towards fostering a culture of face-to face interactions and building a stronger, more connected and positive school community."
-L.A. Unified Board Member Ortiz Franklin

"Mountain Middle School in Durango, Colorado, went phone-free back in 2012, at the start of the mental health crisis... Students were suffering from rampant cyberbullying, sleep deprivation, and constant social comparison... [Head of School Shane Voss] implemented a cell phone ban... The effects were transformative. Students no longer sat silently next to each other, scrolling while waiting for homeroom class to start. They talked to each other or the teacher. Voss says that when he walks into a school without a phone ban, 'It's kind of like the zombie apocalypse, and you have all these kids in the hallways not talking to each other. It's just a very different vibe.'"
-The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Haidt

Sources

Edgewood High School in Madison plans phone-free policy for students in 2025​

Florida’s crackdown on cell phones in schools could get even stricter​

Phone Ban Produces 'Remarkable' Change at Orange County, Fla., Schools​

Updated News Release - L.A. Unified Becomes Largest School District Nationally to Approve Cell Phone Ban During School Day (06-18-24)​

NYC continues to consider school cell phone ban​

The Anxious Generation Book Website​

Constant Companion: A Week in the Life of a Young Person's Smartphone Use​

Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory