ELIDA, OH (WLIO) - Ohio lawmakers are looking to ban student cell phone use during the school day across the state.
The Ohio Senate passed House Bill 250 that would require school districts to develop a cell phone policy and limit its use as much as possible during the school day. Members of the Ohio House have introduced their own version, House Bill 485, which would also have restrictions tied to social media and require school districts to teach about the harms of social media.
Elida High School adopted a policy two months ago that students can only access their cell phones before and after school. The district started this policy in their middle school last year, and they saw some positive effects of the students putting their phones away.
"We saw a quick improvement in discipline and a drop in disruptions, and I think we are expecting the same thing at the high school level," says Joel Mengerink, superintendent of Elida Local Schools. "There are just so many disruptions that take place with cell phones, whether it be students taking unwanted pictures of other students and posting them online. Doing some silly TikTok challenges, harassing other students. You know, just so many issues that crop up. On top of that, the ones whose phones ding in the middle of class."
Mengerink says what the state lawmakers are trying to do is something that has been a long time coming.
"There's just so many issues with it, not only in schools, but with mental health, creating depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation amongst students just because of the social media problems that go with that. So I think when you look at it from the standpoint of doing what's best for students, I think it's a no brainer and I think a lot of school districts go with something very similar," added Mengerink.
During his State of the State address, Governor DeWine urged lawmakers to remove cell phones from classrooms, saying they are detrimental to the students' mental health.
