Georgia Senate passes ‘bell-to-bell’ cellphone ban; concerns raised over school shootings

A recent bill banning cellphone use in Georgia schools has raised safety concerns from families who have experienced school shootings.

“Layla Renee Contreras said she is still haunted by a call from her father telling her there had been a shooting at her sister’s school, Apalachee High School, followed by silence as she tried to reach family members,” reported Gray’s Atlanta News First on March 23.

“I was trying to text Sasha, and I wasn’t getting a response. I was using Find My iPhone,” Layla told journalists. “Having that lifeline of knowing that your loved one is OK – that’s something that we’re losing.”

The State Senate has unanimously approved House Bill 1009, which now awaits Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature to become law.

“With the governor’s signature, this will make us the 27th state to adopt the full bell-to-bell ban,” said Sen. Shawn Still, who sponsored the bill in the Senate.

The legislation builds upon previous regulations to include high schools, not just elementary and middle schools.

Sasha Contreras, Layla’s sister, credited another student with allowing her to borrow a phone so she could alert her family during the shooting.

“Just having my phone that day, simply put, we needed it,” she said.

‘The best thing for our children’s safety’

However, supporters of the legislation argued students “could miss critical directions from teachers or school staff” if they focused too much on their phones during such emergencies. 

“As a parent, I would want the ability to talk to my child, but I also recognize that I want them to be safe far more than I want the ability to reach them in a moment’s notice,” Still said.

Still also pointed out some documented mental health benefits arising from the removal of cellphones from classrooms.

“Even a parent who is directly impacted by that horrible, horrible event just a couple of years ago admitted that he recognizes that a cellphone ban is the best thing for our children’s safety,” he argued, as reported by the local Fox affiliate. “It is the best thing for their mental well-being; it is the best thing for their mental health.”

As previously reported by The Lion, parents such as Ashley Gross are calling for school cellphone bans for other reasons – including better use of taxpayers’ funds.

“When you consider that Washington state spends more than $30 billion per biennium on public education, 25% of school hours being siphoned up by Big Tech’s addictive social media platforms adds up to a significant amount of money,” she wrote in a commentary supporting a cellphone ban in her state.

“The state must reclaim the school day for its intended purpose — educating our children and helping them develop the social and emotional skills they need to succeed. Lawmakers should act now by passing a statewide bell-to-bell phone-free schools law.”