Bullying drops, student engagement in class rises – and kids saying they’re enjoying face-to-face interaction!
‘We saw a lot of bullying,’ Timber Creek High School’s Marc Wasko said of his district’s spin on the statewide law. ‘We had a lot of issues with students posting, or trying to record, things that went on during school time’
Florida school district faculty are praising a new cellphone ban on its nearly 200,000 students – one markedly more severe than what’s required by the state.
The ban went into effect in September, and has prohibited pupils in Orlando’s Orange County public schools system from using their devices since.
The district, the fourth-largest in the state, has 264 schools, and made the move after Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law this past May barring kids from using their phones during class.
The guidance from Orange County Public Schools, however, took that a step further, disallowing students from using their phones during breaks, while requiring them to keep them in their backpacks instead of pockets.
In a series of interviews, teachers, parents, and even students spoke about how the new stipulation has already brought about benefits. Citing drops in bullying and a rise in student engagement, one principal lauded the new law.
Last month, he said, when the ban first took effect, school officials confiscated more than 100 phones from students. He is one of several faculty praising the daylong ban – one markedly more severe than what’s required by the state
‘We saw a lot of bullying,’ Timber Creek High School’s Marc Wasko, who has served as the school’s principal for years, told The New York Times Tuesday.
‘We had a lot of issues with students posting, or trying to record, things that went on during school time,’ he added of his roughly 3,600-strong student body.
Speaking to the paper, Wasko explained how students now make eye contact and respond when he greets them thanks to his new policy – something he said had not been the case beforehand.
He also recalled how several teachers have also told him students seem more engaged – with one instructor, government teacher Nikita McCaskill, telling the publication how it has injected some newfound life into her classroom.
‘Oh, I love it,’ gushed McCaskill, who has worked within the school system since 1997 and has witnessed firsthand the rapidly transforming landscape surrounding cellphones in school.
She added how ‘students are [now] more talkative and more collaborative,’ and said the district’s take on the statewide ban made the atmosphere at Timber Creek better overall.
Somewhat surprisingly, some students who spoke to the Times said much of the same – claiming that the lack of smartphones in their school lives has improved interpersonal relations throughout the student body.
Timber Creek 12th grader Peyton Stanley said: ‘Now people can’t really be like: “Oh, look at me on Instagram. This is who I am.”‘
The guidance from Orange County Public Schools, which includes Orlando’s Timber Creek High, took a new law that barred phones during class a step further, disallowing students from using their phones during breaks, and requiring them to keep them in their backpacks
Citing the ever-present social media culture that’s become so prevalent in schools across the country, the teen added: ‘It has helped people be who they are – instead of who they are online.’
Dozens of other Timber Creek students who spoke to the newspaper said they also supported the no-phone rule – but only during class.
Several criticized their district’s daylong ban – which applies to recess and in between periods as well – as going too far, with some likening their school to a prison.
‘They expect us to take responsibility for our own choices,’ said senior Sophia Ferrara, who explained how she uses her mobile device during free periods to take online college classes.
‘Then they are taking away the ability for us to make a choice and to learn responsibility,’ she added.
Stanley, meanwhile, added how she found parts of the district ban troublesome – citing safety concerns since she is now unable to carry her cellphone in her pocket.
This part of the arrangement, she said, at times leaves her feeling at risk – due to her now being unable to text her mother immediately if needed.
The district, the fourth-largest in the state, has 264 schools, and made the move after Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law this past May barring kids from using their phones during class time
The Times reported that roughly a dozen Orange County parents and students had the same point of view – one not shared by Orange County educators like Lisa Rodriguez-Davis, who makes TikToks showing how fed-up she’s become with students’ use of their phones during class.
‘It was getting out of hand,’ the middle school teacher told the Times, recounting how students would text each other during class to arrange meetings in the bathroom in between periods to film their own social media snippets.
‘I call them “Toilet TikToks,”’ the aspiring influencer said, before showing the paper her own TikToks parodying her plight with students and their phones.
Figures like Wasko, meanwhile, offered statistics to support their claims that their extreme version of the ban was for the best.
Last month, he explained, when the ban at Timber Creek first took effect, school officials confiscated more than 100 phones from students – and almost immediately afterwards, the confiscations dropped, he said
Incidents of phone-related bullying – often beginning online – have also decreased, he claimed.
Enforcing the ban – similar to one seen at Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa – is Timber Creek’s resident security officer Lyle Lake, who on school days patrols the campus on a golf cart, looking for potential violators.
‘It was getting out of hand,’ the middle school teacher told the Times, recounting how students would text each other during class to arrange meetings in the bathroom in between periods to film their own social media snippets
‘It was getting out of hand,’ the middle school teacher told the Times, recounting how students would text each other during class to arrange meetings in the bathroom in between periods to film their own social media snippets
‘I usually end up with a cart full of students,’ Lake said, describing how he drives uncooperative students to the school’s front office after confiscating their devices ‘because I pick up more on the way to the office.’
Lake also revealed how he monitors school security cameras to catch using students in the act, before revealing how repeat violators can be suspended.
The almost militaristic culture comes as part of a greater statewide crackdown led by DeSantis – one billed over the summer by a state Republican who sponsored the bill as ‘one step to help protect our youth and our kids from the grips of social media.’
Said by State Representative Brad Yeager over the summer as the law went into effect, he added: ‘It’s also going to create a less distracted classroom and a better learning environment.’
Within a month, The Orange County School Board voted on approving their own stricter twist on the guidance, deciding that students could not use the phones even while not in class, while keeping them in a backpack or purse.
Enforcing the ban – similar to one seen at Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa – is Timber Creek’s resident security officer, who on school days patrols the campus on a golf cart, looking for potential violators. He also analyzes school surveillance cameras to spot students
District 2 board member Maria Salamanca agreed with the changes, at the time stating: ‘I have always been very strongly against pockets.
‘As a former student, it’s really easy to just zip it in there, go to the bathroom and use your cellphone and go around the corner.’
Else where in Florida, a similar policy at Hillsborough County Public Schools warns students: ‘We See It – We Take It.’
Meanwhile, Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education from 2021 reported that roughly 77 percent of schools prohibited nonacademic cellphone use during school hours.
Florida is the only state to engage in a statewide ban.
Written by Alex Hammer for The Daily Mail – October 31, 2023