New Phone Law in Ohio Schools: Has it gone too far?
As Moeller Students returned to the hallways for the 2024 school year, they soon began to discover the new law that is now affecting almost every school in the state of Ohio. On May, 15th of this year, Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 250. This new law will officially require every school district in Ohio to make a policy administering to the usage of cell phones during school hours. This law does not force specific cell phone policies on school districts, yet it does require schools to address the problem of cell phones in schools.
Courtesy of: govener.ohio.gov
As with every new school rule, this one has specifically caused a lot of uproar in the Moeller community. For Moeller, students are now required to put up their phones in their designated phone pockets at the start of class for every single class. Before, it was up to each individual teacher if students had to turn in their phones at the start of class, now it is required school wide. However, the rule that has caused the most commotion has been the mentor group rule. This requires every student to turn in their phones during every mentor group, no exceptions. With this rule, students should theoretically be able to socialize more during mentor group, instead of some students simply ignoring their fellow Men of Moeller and just turning to their cell phone screen instead.
I believe this rule will have a positive effect in the long run. I think that this rule addresses some problems that have affected Moeller for some time now, but also goes a bit far in some places and fails to solve the distraction problem in others. As far as mentor group is concerned, I think that this rule really hits the nail on the head. The entire goal of mentor group is to allow students to form bonds with one another through socializing. In this day and age, phones have become almost a daily commodity for students and adults alike. Taking a break from the screen for only fifteen to thirty minutes has nothing but positive effects. Now, many students would probably disagree with this position, but I think in the end we will see this new rule become a success in mentor group. However, when it comes to each and every class, that’s when I think this rule becomes a bit excessive. As I mentioned previously, the original phone rules for the classroom use to be up to each individual teacher. I felt that this rule worked fine, considering students put away their phones during class time. Then, if the teacher approved, students could use their phones during free time or at the end of class. I saw no problems with this rule in any of my classes before, but obviously it would seem that some individuals may have taken these luxuries a little too far, prompting the school to do something about it.
In conclusion, these new phone laws have made quite an impact across the state of Ohio. Especially right here at Moeller. The views on these new laws greatly vary from students to parents, and so on and so forth. However, I think that most of these new rules will result in a positive impact for the school, and students alike.
A Moeller student loses his cell phone. (Photo by the Author)