Ban cellphones in Arizona schools? Lawmakers thought it would be that easy

Arizona Republic
Updated ·1 min read

I am a retired Arizona public school teacher. By the end of my career, almost every middle school and high school student had a cellphone.

I watched as teachers and administrators struggled with how to handle the distraction, while parents wanted their sons and daughters to have them to keep in touch.

Now, the Arizona Legislature seems to believe they have solved the distraction. All that is needed is to ban cellphones.

Why are teens so hopeless? Blame social media

Not so fast. The result of a state ban in place of district policies is an administrative nightmare.

How will cellphones be collected from students? Will there be pat downs prior to entering school? When students smuggle the cellphones into class, will the cellphones be confiscated? Will school security be called?

A case hangs on the wall inside a classroom where cellphones are placed as the enter class at Northwest High School in Canton, Ohio, on Monday, March 18, 2024.
A case hangs on the wall inside a classroom where cellphones are placed as the enter class at Northwest High School in Canton, Ohio, on Monday, March 18, 2024.

Or as a state issue, will it be criminal so that police can be called to arrest the student and collect the contraband? Will the collected phones go up for state auction?

Lucky private schools: They get state money and get to make their own decisions about cellphones. They can remove a student for any reason without due process.

Maybe local boards should be left to deal with the issue with parental involvement.

Tim Rockey, Glendale

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona cellphone ban in school was never going to be easy