Minnesota Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle are in agreement on at least one issue: cell phones in schools.
U.S. Reps. Pete Stauber (R) and Kelly Morrison (DFL) are co-authors of a bipartisan bill to study the impacts of using phones in class and provide schools with secure containers for phones.
“We’re all concerned about our kids’ wellbeing, and this is a way for us to gather some real data to test our hypothesis that kids are going to do better without phones during school,” Morrison said.
St. Anthony Middle School has enforced a ban on phones since spring 2023.
The policy calls for phones to be “off and out of sight” while school is in session.
“We really want [students] here and engaged,” Principal Amy Stenson Kujawski said.
Kujawski says she started the policy for two reasons: phones distract from learning and social media can be harmful and facilitate bullying.
“To see [students] interacting with one another, to see them not distracted by their screens, there is a feeling of more warmth, more humanity, more connection in this building without cell phones,” she said. “If anything, I wish we had done it earlier.”
Several students told WCCO they’ve gotten used to not using phones during the school day.
“If you went out there and pulled 10 kids, I think 10 out of 10 would say school’s better without phones,” Kujawski said.
She knows the top concern for families is communication in an emergency, but she says she’s gained many parents’ trust with the school’s safety plan.
“We are prepared to get kids and families connected as quickly as we can,” Kujawski said.
Schools in St. Cloud and Maple Grove also have similar policies.
Starting next year, St. Paul schools will ban phones for K-8 and limit phones for high schoolers.
