Is it legal for kids to bring phones to schools in Louisiana?

BATON ROUGE, La. (KALB) – A bill signed into law on Friday, May 28, amends a current law to regulate cell phone usage in public schools by Louisiana students.

Act No. 313 applies additional restrictions on students and retains the current law prohibiting students from using cell phones while in a public school building, on public school grounds and on school buses.

Act 313, formerly known as Senate Bill 207, requires students to turn off their cellular devices and stow them away from sight until the end of official school hours. Language in the law expands what is considered as a “prohibited device”, to include other telecommunication devices such as pagers, intercoms and any “radio paging service.”

Punishments for ignoring the restrictions in place by the law can be any form of student-based disciplinary action allowed by the school system, including suspension of the student from the school.

State Senator Beth Mizell, the author of the law, claims the law is nothing but beneficial to both students and teachers in the classroom, citing that she has received several supporting testimonies from teachers during committee hearings on the law.

This is one of those rare situations where it’s good for the students and it’s good for the teachers. The ‘Teacher of the Year’ testified in committee, teachers in workforce groups have said this is the biggest distraction that they are fighting against in the classroom. So far this has been done nationally by Utah, Florida, it’s pending in Oklahoma, Vermont, Kansas because it’s an unheard-of situation to control that in the classroom

While the law was under consideration on the Senate floor, Mizell claimed that against all of her expectations, no one during any of the law’s committee hearings expressed concerns about student and general classroom safety.

The safety experts say the worst thing that can happen would be thirty kids all trying to get on their phones in the event that something happens. They’d much rather have the kids listen to the teacher and all follow one set of directions

Act No. 313 was signed into law by Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry on May 28. It went into effect immediately following its signing. More information on the law can be found here.

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