Washoe schools gearing up to further restrict student cellphone use

Washoe County may be the next school district in Nevada to adopt new rules to curb cellphone distractions during class.

This comes after Clark County, Carson City and other school districts nationwide have already implemented strategies such as signal-blocking pouches to curb students' cellphone use during classes, and after a recent survey by the district found that parents, teachers and students widely agree that limiting students' cellphone use would be beneficial for them.

The Washoe County School District currently allows students to possess or use electronic devices as long as they don't interfere with their learning. Devices are prohibited during tests, and teachers and administrators reserve the right to confiscate a student's electronic devices.

But under a draft of a revised version of the policy, students would only be allowed to possess or use their electronic devices outside of the classroom or instructional time, and even then, only as long as they don't interfere with learning or school operations. Consequences for violations could include a meeting with the student's parent(s) or guardian(s), detention or suspension.

While Clark County and Carson City's policies only target students in grades 6-12, the new version of Washoe County's policy would be implemented for all grade levels. District spokeswoman Victoria Campbell said board members can choose to go in a different direction when they vote on the draft at their next meeting on Nov. 26.

The draft includes exceptions for students with special needs who need access to electronic devices as part of accommodations in their Individualized Education Plan or their Section 504 plan.

About 70 percent of the district's elementary schools, all middle schools and 75 percent of high schools have their own cellphone bans in place, according to a presentation during the Aug. 13 school board meeting.

If the school board approves the new policy, the district is looking to implement a pilot program starting in January, after students return from winter break, to collect data and bring it back to the board in April for possible tweaks.

Trustees including Board President Beth Smith have already expressed support for cellphone restrictions during classes.

"Reclaiming educational time is absolutely a hill worth dying on," she said during the board's Tuesday meeting.

On Tuesday, the school board discussed the findings of a recent survey about students' cellphone use in schools.

The district heard from more than 10,000 families, teachers and students in the survey, with families making up the largest share of respondents, about 9,800, followed by more than 300 teachers.

Nearly all families and teachers and more than half of students agreed that students would benefit from districtwide limits on cellphone use.

A study by the Pew Research Center found that 65 percent of parents of a K-12 student support banning cellphones during class.

Of parents who opposed such policies, about 60 percent said a major reason was because they feel it's important to be able to contact their children at school via cellphone.

Nearly all teachers and about 70 percent to 80 percent of families surveyed by the district felt that cellphones are a major distraction for students in the classroom and negatively affect their behavior and personal interactions at school.

According to the Washoe County School District, about a third of students received 10 or more texts during the school day.

Last school year, there were about 250 documented technology-related violations , a decrease from the more than 400 similar violations during the 2022-23 school year, according to the district. Most violations were from students in grades 7-10.

But about a fourth of the families and almost 30 percent of teachers felt cellphones can help students learn. Another 28 percent of families and almost 20 percent of teachers said cellphones can enhance students' ability to engage in classroom materials.

Students, families and teachers are split on how cellphones should be regulated at schools, with teachers favoring using a storage bin or pouch and families favoring requiring students to keep the devices in their backpacks or pockets. Students favored being able to use their cellphones at teachers' discretion.

Smith said she was in favor of having students place their phones in containers, rather than asking students to keep them in their pockets because she felt "that's just simply not going to work."

Smith also favored keeping cellphones in containers as some Washoe County teachers are already doing versus more sophisticated cellphone pouches that require a separate device to unlock — an approach she said could alleviate some of parents' concerns.

In addition, she said it was important to get students used to being disconnected from their cellphones to prepare them for the workforce.

The board's student representative, Annie Batavia, supports teachers' desires to limit cellphone use during classes and have students store their devices in a container, but was concerned it would add more work to teachers' plates.

"I do think it is a great option. I just don't know how effective it would be, realistically, at least in the high school classroom," she said. "I just think it'd be a waste of the teacher's time and of our class time to be battling students every day."