Oklahoma schools work on enforcing new ‘bell-to-bell’ cellphone ban

Oklahoma has joined the growing list of states passing “bell-to-bell no cell” phone bans throughout school days – although it has given districts latitude on enforcement, Griffin’s Newson6.com reports.

“We ask students to put (cellphones) away, give students a warning, right? Like, remind them of it,” said Stephanie Andrews, Tulsa Public Schools executive director of student and family support services.

“And then obviously, after a certain amount of time, we would have to put consequences in place if you continued to just be on your phone in class or in the halls. Those consequences could include phones being confiscated.”

As previously reported by The Lion, more than half of all U.S. states have established regulations on school cellphone use in the last two years. 

“When phones are put away, everything changes,” said Christine Mulroney, president of the Framingham Teachers Association, after Massachusetts approved a public-school cellphone ban this month. 

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

‘A generation raised on devices’ 

In anticipation of the new rule, Newson6.com asked three teens to give up their mobile devices over a three-day period. 

“I’m a little bit nervous because I just feel like I’m not going to know what to do with my time,” said Elise Graves, a high-school student from Coweta Public Schools, upon relinquishing her phone to reporters. 

Graves, 16, comes from “a generation raised on devices,” the news outlet notes. 

However, she noticed several relationship and lifestyle changes sprouting from the self-imposed ban. 

“Spent some time with my brother and sister – just kind of chat with them and see what’s up with their lives because I don’t usually do that a lot because I have my phone,” she said on the last day of her no-cell experience. “I’m usually cooped up in my room on it. And I’ve definitely noticed that I have not been in my room hardly at all these past couple days.” 

Overall, the three-day “experiment” invited Graves to reorder her schedule – making room for different activities such as watching movies and going outside, the outlet explained. 

“Something I struggled with on the phone is constantly checking if someone has responded to me, and just stuff on social media,” she said. “That has caused just a lot of stress. I stress myself out over it because I obsess over it. And the past couple of days I haven’t had to deal with that, so that’s been really relieving.”