Update: Atlanta-area schools push for cell phone bans on campus

A new tech trend for the fall is locking students’ cell phones during the school day.

The DeKalb County School Board voted this week to join a growing movement to reduce cellphone use in schools. Marietta City Schools and Atlanta Public Schools have already committed to the plan.

Public school systems across the state are starting to warm to the idea. Griffin High School in Smyrna has banned cellphones for the 2023-24 school year, and Liberty County, near Savannah, announced June 3 that students will lock their cellphones in a pouch while on school grounds.

A May 21 letter from Midtown Atlanta High School Principal Betsy Bockman said cellphones would be banned from hallways and classrooms based on staff feedback.

“We surveyed our faculty about the biggest challenges facing instruction at Midtown High. Monitoring cell phone use and competing with cell phones for students’ attention were by far the biggest challenges cited by faculty,” Bockman wrote to families. “These comments come from a wide range of grade levels, departments, and courses. The burden on our faculty and staff to manage cell phones and the behaviors they foster is significant.”

While Midtown High’s policy focuses on phones, the ban will include personal computers, smartwatches, tablets, earbuds and headsets.

Students at Midtown High School’s Southerner newspaper wrote in this opinion piece that the move could potentially limit coverage and censor the journalism curriculum.

Marietta City Schools Superintendent Dr. Grant Rivera wants the district to be the first in Georgia to pilot Yondr, a locking phone pouch.

“Teachers feel like they’re losing the battle,” Rivera said in an interview before the school board’s June 18 vote.

Letters of support have come to Marietta City Schools from former Gov. Roy Barnes, state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick and Sen. Jason Esteves, Marietta Police Chief David Beam, and leaders of educational and religious institutions.

Adrian Epps, dean of the Bagwell School of Education at Kennesaw State University, wrote: “This initiative is not just about limiting technology; it is about reclaiming the classroom as a space for intellectual engagement and personal growth… I applaud Marietta City Schools.”