Several area private and parochial schools have overhauled their mobile phone use policies to make them more strict — and they are reporting positive results.
Rye Country Day School adjusted its policy this fall to strictly prohibit mobile phone use during school hours except for academic purposes. Students are required to sign in with a smartphone and may use phones for specified academic purposes. Phones of middle schoolers — a group that parents, teachers, and legislators identify as particularly vulnerable to problems associated with mobile phone use — are confiscated at the beginning of the school day.
At Sacred Heart in Greenwich, Conn., administrators concluded that even having smartphones in high schoolers’ lockers during the day was working against the community’s goals. And while Sacred Heart already had a policy that required middle schoolers to hand in phones at the beginning of the day, the school rolled out the same policy for high schoolers this fall. Administrators moved ahead with those changes after meeting with parents, faculty, and the school’s board and senior leadership team in the spring.
Meanwhile in Rye, the school district has decided to continue with its current policies, which the district reports have been working well, while awaiting guidance from a plan being developed by New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The governor announced in July that she will be working on developing a statewide proposal addressing smartphone use in schools to be announced later this year.
According to a 2024 Pew Research Poll, 72 percent of teachers say that students
being distracted by their cell phones in class is a “major problem.”
That problem has been growing so much that several states, including Florida, Louisiana, California, and South Carolina, recently have passed laws or adopted new rules around cellphone use during the school day. In light of the growing concerns, many local schools are wrestling with how to handle smartphones in schools and what policies they should have in place.
“Here at RCDS, we are deeply committed to supporting our students’ development as responsible tech users and digital citizens,” said RCDS Head of School Randall Dunn. “We started the year with our new device policy making us a ‘phone-free’ learning environment. We agree with the growing consensus that mobile devices (namely cell phones and smartwatches) utilize applications that significantly distract students from the learning and social connection that are fundamental to their education. Frankly, it has been a refreshing relief for all of us, students and adults alike, to put down our devices during the school day.”
Rye Country Day, he added, also is eager to receive guidance from the state. “The more guidance and standards that can be put out, the better it will be,” Dunn said. “We want as much support as possible.
At Sacred Heart, a policy of no cell phones was implemented this fall. Sacred Heart President Michael F. Baber said that instead of getting pushback, the school has received letters of gratitude from many parents.
“After thoughtful review, we implemented a cell phone-free policy in the middle school last year and extended it to the upper school this year,” Baber said. “The result has been remarkable — students are more engaged, joyful, and connected, fostering a stronger sense of community and focus within our learning environment.”
The Rye City School District, meanwhile, decided to hold off on any new policy, instead opting to wait for the governor to lead the way. The district came to that conclusion after surveying teachers and reviewing research from IRL Rye, a local organization addressing concerns about tech oversaturation.
Rye School Superintendent Eric Byrne, who recently announced he will retire in June, said that until Hochul’s plan is announced, the district plans to focus on its current policy, which states that phones, while not confiscated, are not permitted during the school day.
“Gov. Hochul has indicated that she plans to release legislation around cell phone use in schools in January,”Byrne told The Record. “Given this, the district decided to rededicate itself to enforcing our existing cell phone rules.”
Byrne said that principals sent out reminders of the schools’ policy to all school families before the start of the academic year, and then communicated them to students once the school year began.
“I am happy to report that we have had almost no issues with compliance at the middle and high school level and none whatsoever at the elementary school level,” Byrne said. “I’d say that whatever mandates come our way from the State, we are very well-positioned to meet them here in Rye.”