SAN MARCOS — The San Marcos Unified School District is preparing to implement sweeping restrictions related to student cell phone usage on campuses in early 2025, with significant growing pains all but guaranteed for students and staff over the coming months.
The Phone-Free School Act, signed in September, seeks to address the negative impacts of phone use on students’ academic performance and mental health. It requires all school districts to adopt some form of policy limiting or prohibiting the use of smartphones by July 2026.
In recent months, districts throughout North County, including San Marcos Unified, have been engaging students, teachers, staff and parents to gather feedback about phone restrictions and develop new policies.
The SMUSD board adopted a new set of policies for its various school levels on Dec. 19. Within elementary and middle schools, phones must be turned off and kept away the entire school day, and high schools will require all mobile communication devices to be kept away during all class periods but allow them during lunch and breaks.
SMUSD Deputy Superintendent Tiffany Campbell said the district already has a policy banning cell phone use in classrooms, but staff does not follow it consistently. While this won’t pose a major change for younger students, it will be “vastly different” for high schoolers.
“This is a big shift for our high schools,” Campbell said. “It’s gonna be a heavy lift for our administrators and our principals to get our staff on board.”
Currently, many teachers allow students to listen to music via headphones while doing independent work or have students use their phones to scan QR codes to access educational material.
Under the new policy, phones, smart watches, headphones and earbuds will all be prohibited in high school classrooms.
The Phone-Free School Act act cites growing research indicating that unrestricted phone use among youth interferes with education, lowers student performance, promotes cyberbullying and contributes to anxiety, depression and suicide among teenagers.
There are specific exceptions in which districts must allow phone use, including in the case of an emergency or perceived threat of danger, when required to support a student’s individualized education program, or when a licensed physician states it is necessary for a student’s health or well-being.
Campbell noted that an “emergency” can mean vastly different things to different people, from a student forgetting their lunch at home to an active shooter incident. It will need to be better defined going forward.
Gathering input
Over the past year, the district has distributed surveys to students, staff, and parents and involved them in focus groups regarding cell phone use to help shape a policy.
The district received approximately 3,700 responses to their student survey, with around two-thirds of respondents being middle school students. Over half of students said they are not distracted by phones or electronics during class, and around 37% said only a little.
When asked about what cell phone policy they would support, the majority (over 40%) said phones should only be allowed during breaks and lunch; 25% said phones should be allowed for academic purposes during class; and 24% said there should be unrestricted access at student discretion.
Quibey Gonzalez Hernandez, a recent Mission Hills High School graduate who presented student feedback to the school board, noted that the district has buy-in from students and should listen to their concerns and create the policy with them rather than for them.
“What this is showing us is that they agree that restrictions should apply, and so when we start moving forward, we need to make sure we’re not overstepping and we’re not abusing the power of buy-in that we have from our students,” Gonzalez Hernandez said.
Board members said the surveys were intended to involve students in creating the policy, and it was unfortunate that such a small percentage of students participated.
However, some students pointed out that surveys don’t feel like the most authentic form of engagement.
“Speaking from experience as a student, we take surveys all the time. We take surveys for so many different things, and we don’t really view it as, ‘oh, I’m being involved in this thing,’” said San Marcos High School board representative Trinity Moon.
For staff, there were 759 responses, including around 455 classroom teachers. Among high school staff, 69% said they see students using cell phones during instructional time “often” or “almost always.”
When asked about their preferred cell phone policy, 71% of all staff (between all grade levels) said no phones or electronics should be allowed in class. Among high school staff specifically, where phone use is more common, 49% favored a no-phone policy, and another 49% supported allowing phones only for academic purposes or having them restricted to specific times in class.
Next steps
The policy is expected to take effect on Jan. 20, after the district board completes a second reading at their January meeting. The district will then gather feedback from school sites over the following months and update the school board in June with any recommended changes or adjustments.
For students who violate the policy, a progressive disciplinary policy will begin with a verbal warning, followed by confiscation until the end of the day, confiscation requiring parent or guardian pickup, and a behavioral meeting.
While the Phone-Free Schools Act states that a teacher or administrator can grant permission for students to use their phones in class, Campbell said staff need to limit phone use as much as possible to promote consistency.
“Particularly in our schools, our teachers need to be on the same page, and our adults need to understand that this is an issue that is going to take all of our efforts to move the needle,” Campbell said.
Some school districts implementing cell phone bans have required students to place their phones in magnetic or velcro pouches created by companies like Yondr during the school day. There are also hanging wall pouches in each classroom where students put their phones at the start of each class.
District staff said they have considered using Yondr pouches for students but that it would cost the district around $500,000.
School board members said the transition will be most difficult for the current students who will experience the shift.
“With each class that promotes into the next site, it’ll be so much easier. I think it’s just the kids that are in it right now; it’s gonna be really painful for them and the staff,” said board member Heidi Herrick.
