By: Gowri Sunil
News Editor
Starting this fall, the Phone Free School Act in California went into effect, with the goal of reducing smartphone use in school and its consequential distractions. Earlier this year, California governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3216 enacting the Phone Free School Act to begin limiting the time students spend on their smartphones during school hours. The legislation seeks to fully restrict phones by July 2026, giving schools around a year to implement this restriction.
The new law requires all schools in California to implement phone restrictive policies like phone pockets, which Los Gatos High School uses, and Yondr pouches. Phone pockets are strung out posters with pockets available for students to put their phones in while Yondr Cases are individual pouches only openable with a magnetic device.
At Los Gatos High School, the policy has already begun. In the 2024-25 school year, teachers had flexibility in deciding their own class’s cell phone policy. But this year, the school mandated students to turn in their cell phones at the start of class and collect them at the end. Students must stay off their phones during instructional time, with the exception of passing periods, break, and lunch.
Describing the student response, Kathleen Wehr, a ninth grade English teacher at Los Gatos High School, has seen some surprising results regarding the new policy. Last year, Wehr allowed her students to keep their phones and maintain the privilege as long as it didn’t become disruptive. Expecting some resistance to the new policy, she was surprised by the compliance of her students upon her requests to remove earbuds. In addition, Wehr is pleased to have not found any of the usual shenanigans like burner phones or empty phone cases so far. She pointed out, “as I have all freshmen, and many of them are from Fisher, they’re much more used to stricter rules.”
Mark Yanowsky, an art and Multimedia Journalism teacher, also reports no resistance from his students regarding the policy as he had already enforced it last year. Previously, his classes used phones as a creative tool for projects such as the photography unit in Multimedia Journalism. Now he finds the school-provided iPads a simple way to combat the strict phone policy. He explained,”As a culture we just need to practice and teach about managing distractions in order to make our best creative work and be our best self.”
As California gravitates towards greater control over phones in school, Los Gatos still allows students some flexibility during lunch and passing periods. While the law aims to bring positive changes for students, maintaining our school’s policy relies on the student body’s cooperation and understanding.
(Sources: NY Times)