Massachusetts Senate approves cellphone ban for public schools

Massachusetts has taken steps to make classrooms “more human again” with the state Senate approving a bill to ban cellphones from public schools, argues one educator.

“When phones are put away, everything changes,” Christine Mulroney, president of the Framingham Teachers Association, said at a State House press conference, reported by GBH News.

“Students make eye contact. They engage in real conversations. They focus longer. They learn better. The classroom is more human again.”

The bill, which passed 38-2 on July 31, aims to “promote student learning and mental health” by prohibiting the use of personal electronic devices during the school day.

‘Source of distraction, antisocial behavior, conflict’

Various schools throughout the Bay State have different cellphone policies – many increasing in regulation over the years, writes The Herald News, a Gannett newspaper.

One district, Fall River Public Schools, served 11,000 students in the 2024-25 academic year. It implemented a cellphone ban for students in grades 6-12 starting that same year, citing concerns over student learning and performance.

Such devices had “increasingly become a source of distraction, antisocial behavior and conflict,” explained Superintendent Tracy Curley as the school passed the ban.

The district also spent over $160,000 last year to purchase unlocking stations and magnetic locking pouches to help enforce its policy, according to The Herald News.

By advocating for this ban, Massachusetts joins more than half of all U.S. states establishing regulations on school cellphone use within the last two years.

For example, the neighboring state of Vermont enacted a cellphone ban in June going one step further – prohibiting school officials from using social media platforms to make announcements to students.

“With the passage of our bill, the school day will soon provide all Vermont kids with a respite from the pressures and harms that are now ever-present in their lives thanks to social media and other online products,” said Rep. Angela Arsenault, D-Williston.

The American Federation of Teachers also applauded the Massachusetts Senate’s decision, noting in a statement how “educators are forced to compete for [students’] attention with the looming distraction of cell phones and social media.”