Palm Springs Unified approves cell phone ban, set to take effect next school year

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – A change for students at Palm Springs Unified School District is on the way.

The Board considered a new policy Tuesday night that would keep students from using cell phones in the classroom. It wrote in its policy that the Board "recognizes that the use of personal smartphones and other mobile communication devices during school hours may be disruptive of the instructional program and negatively impact school culture and climate in some circumstances."

Mark Arnold, the Executive Director of Student Learning at PSUSD, said phones "can have an impact to self esteem and student anxiety. It also can impact their academic performance because it is a distraction when it's sitting there on their desk."

He continued, "Just as an adult, if it beeps on my desktop, it draws my attention away. And so that's what we're seeing happening a lot with our kids."

Students from TK to 5th grade must put away and turn off their technology during the school day, while students from 6th to 12th grade will be permitted to use them during lunch.

The district said this policy is the bare minimum requirement for schools to enforce. There is room for schools to enforce the policy more strictly if they want to. 

There are some exceptions: teachers can allow students to use it for instructional purposes, and in the event of emergencies, students are allowed to contact their parents.

The change will go into effect next school year.

But some questions remain between now and then. Karen Johnson, the President of the Palm Springs Teachers Association, said she's heard concerns from teachers over the ban.

"The concern that has come to me from some of our teachers is, 'Great, we have no cell phones during class time. ... how can we enforce that when the student then tells the teacher, no, I'm not putting it away,'" she explained. She said teachers are worried about confiscating phones, which can often value hundreds of dollars.

"It's still that computer that kids have that nobody else really wants to lay hands on."

The district said it will continue refining its communication to parents and the community before next school year.

District leaders say the policy isn't a shock to most, especially as many of its secondary schools already had some form of phone ban in place. This policy creates a district-wide requirements that gets all schools on the same page, though leaders give specific school sites the freedom to enforce the policy more strictly if they choose.

All school districts in California will be required to have some form of phone ban policy in place by July 1, 2026.