AS HIGH SCHOOLS across Contra Costa County and the state of California have been finding ways to enforce Gov. Gavin Newsom’s no-smartphone policy, teachers and students are ambivalent about the new law that is set to take effect for the 2026-27 school year.
Although many school districts began implementing policies that prohibit student cellphone use in classrooms a year early, some of those affected are already raising questions about it. Should the law be implemented, and if so, how? What are the potential benefits or harmful impacts it may have on the classroom environment?
At El Cerrito High School in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, many teachers now hang pouches on classroom walls for students to stow their phones during instructional time. In accordance with WCCUSD’s Code of Conduct, students are allowed to access their phones only during passing periods and at lunch.
In spite of this, many teachers have struggled to maintain student adherence to the new cellphone policy in class at a school with 1,400-1,500 students.
“It’s extremely difficult to create a culture that hasn’t been there before, that changes the way we view cellphones,” English teacher Belinda Roddie said.
This is further exacerbated by the lack of a common no-cellphone plan enforced by the district. Although pouches are available for stowing student phones in classrooms, teachers are left to handle this policy by themselves, with some choosing not to use them.
Spanish teacher Martin Castillo lets students leave their phones in their backpacks, just in case there is an emergency. He also believes enforcing the policy in such a manner will foster a sense of responsibility around cellphone usage in the academic environment, with students maintaining partial responsibility for keeping their phones off and focusing on work. Of course, if phone usage is evident and problematic, then Castillo said phones will be taken away.
Stashing fake phones
For students like 10th grader Faizan Khalid, having to place his phone into a pouch or simply put it away can actually be unmotivating because he believes his phone can help him refocus.
“I get really bored, and then I don’t want to do any work,” Khalid said. “If you have (your phone), that means you can take off your boredom a bit, but if you don’t have it, then that’s just boring.”
Khalid has observed other students skirting the rules by placing fake or old phones in the assigned pouches. Sara Sanchez, an El Cerrito High 11th grader, admitted that she has put a fake phone in her classrooms’ pouches.
“I get really bored, and then I don’t want to do any work. If you have (your phone), that means you can take off your boredom a bit, but if you don’t have it, then that’s just boring.”
Faizan Khalid, 10th grader
“I don’t even use my phone to cheat,” said Sanchez. “I just use it to listen to music.” However, Sanchez does know other students who use their phones to cheat in class.
Sanchez believes the new cellphone policy is futile because it hasn’t impacted the way she, her friends, and other classmates have used their phones on campus in any significant way.
Consequences for students who are seen using their cellphones also vary. For Spanish teacher Sonia Mangum, she said lectures usually include constant reminders for students to put their cellphones in their backpacks. She said repeated warnings could result in students having their phones confiscated.
When Mangum does confiscate phones, they are returned at the end of class. In the event that a student refuses to turn in a phone after violating the policy, Mangum said a referral may be sent to the office for administrators to get involved.
Tricks to cheat
Even classes that don’t routinely have students put their phones in pouches might collect phones for exams. For Mangum, if a student turns in an old or fake phone and uses a real one to cheat, they will receive an automatic zero.
Despite concerns about cheating, mere classroom engagement is impeded by another device: school-issued Chromebooks. Roddie has observed that students may still use their Chromebooks to watch YouTube videos or play unblocked games even if their cellphones are put away.
Although teachers can limit open tabs or even temporarily disable Chromebooks through a software called Securly, students have found ways to circumvent these measures. Mangum has also noticed that students who do turn in their cellphones upon request don’t mind so much because they can still watch YouTube, play video games, and find other online distractions during class.
“They use their school-issued Chromebook as a big cellphone,” Mangum said.
At Pinole Valley High School, which is also in WCCUSD, 10th grader William Griffith has observed a stricter implementation of the policy this school year. He said students are expected to stow their phones away in their backpacks. If phones are seen in students’ pockets, students receive one warning. After that, phones are confiscated and sent to the main office, where they can be picked up at the end of the day. When phones are seen in use, they can be confiscated without warning.
Griffith views this policy as a positive.
“I would say it’s easier to focus (without your phone) and you get more work done,” Griffith said.
Chromebooks replace phones as main distraction
Griffith has occasionally observed Chromebooks being a distraction, but he said his teachers are usually strict as to how many tabs and which sites may be open at once on computers.
Roddie said their classroom atmosphere at El Cerrito High has also benefited in more general ways, apart from improved student focus and increased socialization.
“I do notice there’s a reduction in anxiety, because (students) aren’t constantly checking their phones for texts and for updates and for things like that,” Roddie said. “I do notice that students relax a little bit more.”
Both Roddie and Mangum have observed that Chromebooks pacify any particular restlessness, but Roddie also made clear that this newfound calm is the result of a strict implementation of the policy, where attendance is marked according to whether a student’s phone is inside its assigned pouch on the classroom wall.
In theory, the no-cellphone policy “is fantastic,” Roddie said. “But if you don’t have the amount of buy-in and resources available to make it schoolwide, you are ultimately going to have these little floating islands of cellphone-free zones,” Roddie said. “If you really want everyone to take it seriously and have a 100% policy, there has to be a change, especially from above, to give us the tools and support we need to carry that out, especially when it’s such a large shift in culture and expectations of the school and climate.”
Christopher Laursen-Bailey is a 10th grader at El Cerrito High School in El Cerrito and a CCYJ reporter. This story originally appeared in CCSpin.