Northampton approves bell-to-bell cell phone ban for students

Raegan Loughrey and Ryan Trowbridge, Western Mass News

NORTHAMPTON, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Northampton students will soon have to put their phones away for the entire school day. The school committee voted 7-to-3 last week to approve a new bell-to-bell cell phone policy that will take effect this fall.

Starting on the first day of the next school year, Northampton students will no longer have access to their cell phones during the school day. The policy is set to bring the district into compliance ahead of pending state legislation requiring phone-free schools. “Currently, we don’t really have a clear policy at this point. Different schools had different approaches and this is a real opportunity to prepare us for what is coming from the state legislation,” said Alena Bartoli, vice chair of the Northampton School Committee. “I believe that’s the same language, that cell phones need to be inaccessible for the entire school day.”

Last year, Northampton Public Schools adopted an off-and-away policy, requiring students to keep their phones off during class, but allowing them to use them during other parts of the school day. Under the new policy, phones will be kept somewhere students cannot access them. “Inaccessible bell-to-bell policy, so what that means is during the school day, cell phones will be somewhere that students cannot access,” Bartoli added.

Some students said they are not convinced a full ban is necessary. One Northampton High School junior said students currently use their phones for more than just social media. “Yeah, that’s pretty frustrating. I think a lot of kids use their phone to choose where they wanna go for the next classes or during flex. There’s an app called My Learning and that’s where we decide where to go,” said Madden Hatouen, a Northampton High School junior.

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