12-05-2025
Palm Beach County School Board backs a 'bell-to-bell' cellphone ban for K-8 students
Palm Beach County School Board members expressed support for legislation that would ban elementary and middle school students in Florida from using cellphones during the school day "from bell to bell."
That legislation, which originated as House Bill 1105, has passed both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate. School Board members said they expected it to be signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis and go into effect July 1, adding Florida to the growing list of states that have banned or significantly limited student cellphones in schools.
"I really do believe that cellphones are dangerous to our children," School Board member Marcia Andrews, who worked for 35 years as an educator in the Palm Beach County School District, said at the board's meeting May 7. "They're on them too much, and we need to curb that."
Two years ago, Florida became the first state in the nation to ban cellphone use during instructional time despite the concerns of some parents, who worried about making it more difficult for students to use their cellphones during an emergency like a school shooting.
HB 1105 expands the ban for elementary and middle school students and would also establish a pilot program for six as-yet-unnamed school districts to ban cellphone use from bell to bell for high school students. The legislation has an exception for medical emergencies and for students with individual education plans.
The prospect of a high school ban generated a difference of opinion from school board members, with most expressing support for such a ban but others arguing that the district should wait for the state to pass a law mandating a bell-to-bell ban for high school students.
School board members will hold a workshop May 28 to discuss how to put HB 1105 in place and whether to extend the ban to high schoolers.
"We're going to have to follow the law, but I don't think we need to jump out there and begin to overdo this thing," Andrews said in arguing that the district should first focus on implementing a bell-to-bell ban for elementary and middle school students.
School Board member Erica Whitfield agreed.
"I am always cautious when we do something huge to the school system," she said. "For that reason, I wouldn't really be in favor of going for the pilot program."
Other board members held a different view.
"I'm definitely in favor of us creating a policy that prohibits cell use at the high school level as well, and here's the reason why: It is a huge distraction," board member Edwin Ferguson said. "I was at a school earlier this year, Palm Beach Lakes (Community High), where a young student was so focused on looking at the cellphone that he almost broke his nose walking into a door. It's a problem, and I do think we should get our arms around it."
Board member Matthew Jay Lane also backs the idea of extending a bell-to-bell cell phone ban to high school.
"Studies have shown that this will increase academic achievement, enhance interpersonal communication, limit distractions and reduce bullying," Lane said.
In addition to debating whether the bell-to-bell ban called for in HB 1105 should be extended to high school, board members kicked around ideas for how any bell-to-bell ban should be enforced. Should student phones be collected by the teacher? Should they remain with the students but turned off?
One firm, Yondr, pitched the district on buying its pouches, which would allow students to keep their phones with them but would lock the phones when the pouch is sealed. Lane estimated that, at $30 per pouch, the district would need to spend $5 million on them.
Lane and several other board members said such an expenditure would be unwise given the district's already strained finances.
"I am absolutely not for buying pouches and spending money and having them locked and having an administrator have to come and unlock them or buying an envelope," board member Gloria Branch said.
"When I was a substitute teacher, I actually took a phone away during the day. Parents had to come at the end of the day to pick it up. It's pretty simple. You put it in your backpack. If you take it out, the teacher takes it. You have to come get it at the end of the day or make the parents come and get it at the end of the day."
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Branch said she does want the policy to allow students to keep their cellphones on their person in case of emergencies. Most board members shared that view, including the board's student representative, Isabella Mirisola, a senior at Dr. Joaquín Garcia High in suburban Lake Worth Beach.
"I do think that students K-8 shouldn't be on their phones during the school day," Mirisola said. "But, like Ms. Branch said, I think it should be on them, considering that, if there's an emergency in a school, I don't think the teacher or administration is going to jump at emailing or calling parents. I think they're going to try getting rid of the situation first."
Mirisola added: "I know me, personally, as a high school student, if there is an emergency, I am going to text my parent group chat and tell them what is going on because the administrators at my school are going to try mending the situation before it gets worse."
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The only School Board member who argued against having the students keep their cellphones on them was Virginia Savietto. She said that if something happened at the school her son Luca attends, she would not want him to call her.
"Just to think that I need Luca to call me when there's something going on is ridiculous," Savietto said, adding that she would want a school official or first-responder to handle parent outreach to prevent parents from descending upon a school in the middle of an emergency. "I don't want Luca calling me because I can't do anything."
Whitfield does not feel the same way.
"I really want my daughter to have her phone on her," she said. "I know if there's a problem, she can reach out."
Wayne Washington is a journalist covering education for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@ Help support our work; subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County School Board backs 'bell-to-bell' K-8 cellphone ban
