Surveys Indicate Parent-Student Disconnect on Cell Phones

March 19, 2025
• Following research and feedback from the school community, administrators suggested how different grade levels could manage phone use in their schools.

This school year, Needham High School instituted a standardized cell phone policy: Every classroom is now equipped with a phone holder into which each student must place their phone before class. Previously, individual teachers set classroom guidelines.

For the wide majority of NHS students, the policy has had little impact on their ability to focus, according to survey data, though most of them don’t think their phones are at all distracting in the first place. However, nearly 80% of them say they’d prefer a flexible phone policy, meaning it would vary between classes. More than 1,000 students took the survey.

Their parents feel very differently about school phone use — nearly half of surveyed NHS families say they’d prefer a limited use policy, and close to 30% advocate for a complete ban on phones, the survey reported.

As school stakeholders unpack that data, Superintendent Dan Gutekanst issued a message to parents following a School Committee presentation on the topic.

“Don’t buy a phone for your kid and then expect us to manage it,” Gutekanst said. “And that’s what some of the parents said in the survey, and that fundamentally doesn’t make sense.”

Members of the School Wellness Advisory Committee (SWAC) — composed of administrators, staff, students and parents — shared the survey findings and their drafted policy recommendations on cell phones for K-12 students. The committee plans to propose official guidelines to the School Committee by the end of the year.

For the high school, SWAC suggests creating a cell phone-free environment only during instructional time, leaving open the ability for students to use their phones — with possible limitations — during passing periods, lunch and potentially X-block, which is an unstructured period similar to homeroom.

Phones in elementary and middle schools, according to the drafted policy, would be off and “out of sight during the entire school day,” said SWAC representative Alison Coubrough-Argentieri, the acting assistant superintendent for student support services.

In a staff survey, teachers seemed to praise the new phone policy’s effectiveness, with about 80% stating the phone holders significantly addressed cell phone distractions. Last year, teachers reported phone usage as having a “large impact” on their ability to manage and teach the class, Coubrough-Argentieri said based on the survey.

Limiting phone use leads to more social interaction, which is “critical” for teens’ development School Committee member Andrea Longo Carter said. Following the feedback on the staff survey, she voiced support for more action.

“That, to me, again, suggests that I think we need to be a little more restrictive, particularly when we’re talking about the instructional setting,” Carter said. “Potentially going back to a less restrictive policy I would not be in favor of.”

The School Committee sets policies for the district, Gutekanst said, and current language in school handbooks is unclear on phone usage.

SWAC also advised Needham Public Schools to teach students about digital literacy and establish “community norms,” such as prioritizing in-person activities and talking with children about the right time for them to have a cell phone, Coubrough-Argentieri said.

During their data collection, NPS administrators visited the F.A. Day Middle School in Newton, where students use Yonder pouches: sealable phone holders that restrict phone use throughout the school day.

While the pouches reportedly improved student focus and decreased distractions and disciplinary issues, there are some consequences. Staff must place students’ phones into the pouch every morning outside the building, and students still find workarounds, which are difficult to keep up with.

“The school we visited I believe shared that, when the phones went into the pouches, there was an uptick in abusing the school-issued technology, so kids were creating Google Docs and chatting on that,” said Chris Gosselin, K-12 Director of Instructional Technology and Innovation. “That’s very common, by the way.”

The Yondr pouches would cost the district $40 per pouch, Gutekanst said, not including the magnets needed to unlock the phones. Yondr requires a school district to implement the pouches for an entire school, not on a grade-by-grade basis, Coubrough-Argentieri said.

While it’s less popular at NHS, 67% of middle school families support a complete ban at High Rock and Pollard, the survey found. Just 17% of those surveyed prefer a phone holder policy.

School Committee member Michael Greis requested they hold another discussion on the topic. After the SWAC meets for a final time March 27, they plan to address committee concerns and finalize their report.

Most committee members reached a consensus on the harms of cell phones, particularly when it comes to limiting distractions. During X-block, students often resort to their phones, said Alisa Skatrud, who has a sophomore at NHS. She said she hopes the school looks to increase social interaction during that period.

“I don’t know that we’re responsible to give them 15 minutes of additional screen time in the middle of the day,” Skatrud said. “I don’t see where that’s getting us as an educational system.”