WA Teens Weigh in on School Cellphone ‘Bans’

It's estimated around 75 percent of WA State school districts have some sort of in-class cellphone ban or restrictions.  Now a group of teens have weighed in.

  Seattle-area student  group offers interesting proposals

   A Youth Advisory Board, assembled by the University of Washington, includes students from Seattle-area schools, put together a series of proposals concerning phone bans.

According to Geekwire, they weighed the good and bad of phones and came up with some ideas.

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They included, compromising with bans during academic times, but allowing use during breaks and lunches (in school).  Also including and communicating with parents and guardians, to get their input on the subject.

They also recommended consistency between schools in Districts and allowing more leniency for students who may have duties in school but outside of class. Also, they suggested students be given information about what they called digital awareness--the benefits and dangers of digital and phone use.

UW, as part of the study, sent out questionnaires and got about 4,400 back. According to Geekwire:

"In the answers to questionnaires, teachers emphasized that with limited phone access, there are fewer distractions in the classroom, more social engagement and less bullying. Teens said the restrictions reduced the amount of cheating."

While WA has about 75 percent of districts using some sort of restrictions, OR took a different road, with largely a blanket ban in K-12 during school hours, which has drawn widespread criticism.