LOS ANGELES (NewsNation) — The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education voted on Tuesday to ban cellphone use during the school day.
The new rule will take effect in January 2025, though the Los Angeles Times reports that the details still need to be “approved in a future meeting by the Board of Education.”
The LAUSD’s vote came on the same day that California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he wants to restrict students’ usage of smartphones during the school day across the state, citing the mental health risks of social media.
The moves to ban cellphone use in schools echo comments from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who recently called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people.
School cellphone bans may be becoming a bipartisan issue.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this year signed one of the most restrictive bans in the nation on children’s use of social media. The New York State Legislature passed a bill earlier this month that would allow parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested to them by the platform’s algorithm.
LAUSD board member Nick Melvoin told NewsNation the expected ban is a “good move.”
“I’ve been struck at how our kids are just addicted (to their phones), the same way many adults are,” he said. “They’re surreptitiously texting in class; they’re less subtle than they think they are.”
Melvoin said enforcing the ban could come in a form that many adults have already encountered.
“We’re looking at cellphone lockers where a student just checks their phone in at the beginning of the day and gets it on the way out. There are also electronic pouches that some adults may be familiar with at comedy shows or concerts where you have a pouch that’s then magnetically sealed until you leave.”
The Associated Press and NewsNation affiliate KTLA contributed to this report.
