Maya Contreras, Bremen High School senior, said she was a little bit mad when her school implemented phone lockers her sophomore year. But two years later, she said the lockers help her learn faster, easier and more deeply.
Meanwhile, Joy Benjamin, a 15-year-old student at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, prefers keeping her phone with her, in case of an emergency. Those concerns escalated in January, when her school went on lockdown after a gun was found on campus.
As a bill requiring Illinois school districts to adopt cellphone policies heads to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk, south and southwest suburban school officials remain divided on the issue.
Some districts, like Contreras’ Bremen High School District 228, say they recognize the need and have already implemented similar restrictions.
Other districts, like Orland Park High School 230, raised concerns about enforcing the statewide policy and getting parents on board.
Under the legislation, public and charter school districts statewide are required to implement a cellphone policy removing phones from classrooms by the 2027-28 school year.
Elementary and middle schools must institute a “bell-to-bell” ban. High schools may allow students to use phones during lunch or breaks at each district’s discretion.
Districts with existing policies that differ from the statewide ban would be allowed to keep them until the 2030-31 school year.
Exceptions are allowed for emergencies and educational purposes. Students with medical needs, individualized education programs or primary caregiving responsibilities for a family member may also request an exception.
If a phone breaks, schools and teachers are not liable as long as the device was stored in “good faith” and in accordance with district policies, under the legislation.
Lawmakers approved the initiative Sunday after failing to take it to the finish line last May, mainly due concerns about the use of fines, fees and the involvement of local police or school resource officers, and suspensions or expulsions as enforcement tools.
The bill heading to Pritzker’s desk, which the governor said he intends to sign, prohibits these enforcement methods.
Bremen District 228
For Bremen High School District 228, the state legislation does not require much change, as the district passed a policy requiring phones to be away in classrooms more than two years ago.
Ryan Blackwell, assistant principal for teaching and learning, said that in those two years, Bremen High School found a successful solution: phone lockers.
The school purchased the lockers for $15,000 through Amazon using Title I funds, which are federal grants given to schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families, Blackwell said.
Students place their phones in the lockers at the beginning of each class and keep the key, which is attached to a bracelet, until they retrieve them at the end of class.
Blackwell said that as a parent, it’s nice to know that the phones can still be accessed easily during emergencies, or even the entire locker can be carried during a fire.
While the state legislation does not require school districts to purchase phone storage, Bremen English teacher Kelsey Pena said it’s hard to enforce a phone policy without them.
She said policing phones in the classroom felt like Whac-A-Mole without the lockers, and even when phones were in backpacks they still made noise.
With the phones locked away, she said teachers have started finishing curriculum quicker. Teachers have also not had issues with other mobile devices such as watches and can monitor the students’ school iPads, which already have restricted uses, she said.
“I’m not as burned out because I can actually teach, and they’re like looking at me and engaged,” she said.
Ayden Wright, a senior on the school’s remediation program that helps resolve fights between students, said the lockers also helped reduce student conflict.
“When you can’t record a fight, so you don’t have proof of it, or you can’t text anyone to meet up during class, that whole aspect just takes it out of the question,” he said.
Contreras said having her phone away has helped her feel more focused, finish assignments faster and even have less homework because she completes most of her work in class.
“The lockers give students the outlet to, like, choose their education over, like, their entertainment because at the end of the day, you can put a fake phone in there, but it’s costing your education,” she said.
Contreras and Wright both said it took students a school year to adjust and fully comply with the lockers.
Adjustment concerns
Nolting said District 230 placed phone cubbies in every classroom two years ago, but allowed teachers to choose how they used them.
“Because the dynamic of an art class is not the same as the dynamic of a math class, and obviously we know sometimes having one policy across the board is difficult to manage,” Nolting said. “So we wanted to create that independence a little bit.”
He reported some struggles to manage compliance in classrooms where students are expected to leave their phones in the cubbies, but said it’s been better than worse. The loose policy allows teachers to accommodate student-adult communication as needed, something he is concerned the Illinois bill could jeopardize.
“There are some parents that are very connected to their kid while they’re in school,” Nolting said.
As the bill only regulates cellphone use, Nolting said he believes some students will find ways to get around the restrictions using other, newer technologies to communicate, such as smart watches and glasses that use artificial intelligence.
Nolting speculated that if District 230 parents oppose the legislation, they may try to push back through requesting an individualized education program for their children.
Traci Burns, whose 14-year-old son attends District 230’s Sandburg High School in Orland Park, agreed creating extra paperwork for the state and district could serve as a way for parents to protest the bill’s implementation if Pritzker signs it into law.
Burns said she objects to the legislation.
“We don’t even have our guns under control, but we want to control cellphones?” Burns said. “That’s a problem.”
The sentiment was shared by Homewood-Flossmoor student Joy Benjamin and her mom, Laila.
Laila Benjamin said during January’s lockdown, texts between her daughter and herself included not only words of encouragement, but also important information about where Joy was located, as Homewood-Flossmoor High School includes two separate buildings.
“I believe that the people that are passing these laws are blind to the fact that it’s a security issue, not a screen time issue,” Benjamin said.
“I assume that they’re my age and older, and so because they feel that they lived in an age where they didn’t need cellphones and it wasn’t necessary, then that’s where they’re operating from,” she added. “But you can’t do that, because that’s not where we’re living, and that’s not the age that our children are living in.”
Joy agreed that speaking with her mom and friends brought some comfort during a stressful situation.
“If I didn’t have my phone, that would’ve been a lot worse, a lot scarier,” the 15-year-old student said.
