Louisiana
‘Kids are talking to each other.’ Teachers, students embrace Louisiana’s cell phone ban
While planning a field trip to a student-athlete leadership conference in September, Kassie Binkley doubted that her high schoolers could make it through the day without their cellphones, as their school district now requires.
So she was stunned when the teens not only survived the phone-less trip — they seemed to love it.
“My kids played games while the rest of the kids picked up their phones during breaks,” the Caldwell Parish High School physical education teacher said. “They were just more engaged the whole time.”
Kassie Binkley (in white), a physical education teacher at Caldwell Parish High School, plays a game with students during class on Friday, October 4, 2024.
Other educators — and even some students — are reporting similar positive experiences since a new state law took effect this school year requiring students to stow their phones away during the school day. Louisiana joins several other states that have recently restricted students’ cellphone use, citing growing research on its negative impact on kids’ brain development and mental health.
When Louisiana’s law passed in May, some families and lawmakers were concerned the ban would make it harder for parents to reach their children during emergencies, and districts scrambled to figure out how to enforce the new restriction.
But a few months into the semester,
“Kids are paying attention in class,” said Nicki McCann, superintendent of Caldwell Parish Schools. “They’re talking to each other.”
Emerging research suggests that too much screen time can harm developing brains, making kids more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, shortening their attention spans and making them more impulsive.
Despite this, smartphone use among teens and tweens has skyrocketed in the last decade, with more than half of U.S. children getting the devices by age 11, according to a 2022 survey.
Now, educators say the phone restriction is helping some students flourish in the classroom.
“I’m seeing things that I have not seen in my 25 years teaching,” said Tristen Guillory, an Ascension Parish algebra teacher. “Just the level at which these kids are learning.”
An overall improvement
For many educators, getting rid of phones has made their jobs easier.
Under the previous state law, students could have cellphones in school, just not use them. Teachers had to try to catch kids furtively using their phones — which wasn’t easy.
Students were “taking them to the bathrooms, cheating in class, texting parents to come get them,” said McCann, the Caldwell superintendent. “It was just crazy.”
The new law says phones and other electronic devices must be “properly stowed away” or “prohibited from being turned on” during school. Districts must decide how to enact the law, including whether students can keep their turned-off phones in their backpacks or must turn them in to school staff.
In Caldwell, high schoolers now must keep their phones in their cars or hand them over to the front office before heading to class. The phones are stored in clear bags during the day and handed back before dismissal.
Binkley, the phys ed teacher, said the new policy has created consistency across classrooms and made it easier for staff to enforce.
“It used to be an argument,” she said. The new rule “gets rid of all the discrepancy.”
Students at Caldwell Parish High School pick their phones up at the end of the school day on Friday, October 4, 2024.
Ascension Parish requires kids to keep their phones off and in their bags during the day. Guillory, the algebra teacher, said she’s seen a marked change under the new policy — particularly in the lunchroom, where she had expected to catch the most infractions.
“I figured it was going to be a hot mess,” she said, but instead students are following the new rules and seem to have embraced the ban. “Although they were resistant at first to the idea, I think a lot of them are relieved now.”
In East Baton Rouge, one of the state’s largest school systems, spokesman Perry Robinson said the district initially experienced a spike in infractions under the new policy this fall, though the number of students suspended for breaking the rules multiple times has remained roughly the same.
Like Ascension, the district requires students to keep their phones off and in their bags for the duration of the school day.
“Once parents heard about the law, a lot of them had conversations about it with their kids,” Robinson said. Now, “everybody is complying.”
Members of the Teachers’ Advisory Council, a group of educators who advise the state education department on policy issues, also praised the ban at a recent meeting.
Students “no longer can text mom, ‘Hey, I forgot my gym clothes,’” said Regena Beard, a teacher at Copper Mill Elementary in Zachary, adding that the change will force students to “become more responsible.”
Allison McLellan, an English teacher at Belle Chasse High School, said getting rid of phones has helped kids’ social skills.
“They need to know how to be people,” she said. “They need to know how to make eye contact, how to have conversations.”
Students embrace going phone-less
Some students are also on board with the ban.
Sophomore Charlotte DeClouet, who has experienced multiple bomb threats at her Lafayette high school, was initially worried she wouldn’t be able to contact her parents during an emergency. But her fears were eased after the school allowed kids to keep their phones on them as long as they’re off and in their bags.
“At the beginning, it was kind of weird and everyone wanted their phones back,” she said, but now the ban is helping students stay on task. “It created a more productive learning environment.”
Anna Kate Shaw, a senior at Caldwell High School, said she’s finished three books since the start of the school year — something she didn’t think she would have done before phones were banned.
“A lot of my classmates and I were really upset” about the ban, she said. “But now, we’ve all noticed we’re a lot more focused in class.”
Still a work in progress
Still, there have been some hiccups as districts figure out what works.
Bernita Dunbar, an educator in Concordia Parish, said her district has struggled to enforce the ban, which she attributed to schools not adequately informing students about the new policy.
“In one class, I actually told the kids, ‘You all know this is Louisiana law, right?’” she said during the teacher council meeting. “And they were like, ‘No, we didn’t know.’”
Shaw said the front office at her school sometimes misplaces students’ phones, adding that some of her friends have had to wait a day or more before the school is able to locate their phones.
“I don’t really like how our school system executes” the ban, she said.
Kassie Binkley (in white), a physical education teacher at Caldwell Parish High School, stretches with students during class on Friday, October 4, 2024.
And, of course, not all students are thrilled about having to relinquish their phones.
“It’s always mixed reviews with kids,” said Guillory, the Ascension Parish teacher. “Some people will say, ‘Oh, it’s dumb.’”
But Binkley said the only complaint she’s heard is from students who relied on their phones to keep track of the time. Thankfully, she said, that problem was an easy fix.
“I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, we really don’t have a lot of functioning clocks,’” she said. “Most teachers have gotten clocks for their rooms now. But it was kind of funny.”
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – A 53-year-old Louisiana man will serve 22 years in prison following a child sex crimes case that included possession of handmade childlike sex dolls — items that state lawmakers have since moved to ban.
Sabine Parish prosecutors say Yancy Elie Normand was sentenced after investigators received a tip that he forced someone to view child sexual abuse material. A search of his home allegedly uncovered more than 200 illegal files — including child sexual abuse material and bestiality — along with two handmade childlike sex dolls.
New state law bans child sex dolls
Louisiana lawmakers passed a law banning the possession, trafficking, and importation of child sex dolls statewide in 2024. State Sen. Beth Mizell said the push began after conversations with Homeland Security about human trafficking during the Super Bowl in New Orleans, at a time when the state had no specific law covering the dolls. The measure passed with near-unanimous support.
“I think the importance is that it’s a precursor to actual crimes against children,” Mizell said.
Mizell said the issue extends well beyond Louisiana’s borders.
“It’s a nationwide problem…when you look at just the volume of child abuse cases, to the point where our Attorney General now has multiple task forces in place all over the state,” Mizell said.
Task force expands statewide reach
The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office says protecting children remains the focus of its Louisiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Supervisory Special Agent Chris Masters leads the group, which now includes more than 80 agencies and 250 detectives.
Masters said the dolls are often misunderstood by the public.
“When people hear sex doll, they think of the blow-up thing. These things are thousands of dollars, and they’re anatomically appropriate to a child,” Masters said. “They’re gonna look like a child. It’s not just what you think on TV.”
Masters said coordination across agencies is essential to the task force’s work.
“It’s completely impossible if law enforcement is not together on the same page with the same type of training, the same access, the same type of equipment,” Masters said. “We can tend to continue expanding our partnerships until there is no safe haven for any sex predator or child predator in this state.”
Lawmakers urge parents to monitor children’s online activity
Mizell said the volume of harmful material accessible online makes parental awareness critical.
“You have access to abhorrent material online in your hand all day, every day,” Mizell said. “Pay attention. Don’t be afraid to look at your child’s phone.”
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MONROE, La. (KNOE)—Over the past week, average gas prices in Louisiana have fallen 6.8 cents. That averages to $3.41/g today, according to a survey of 2,436 stations conducted by ‘GasBuddy’.
Compared to a month ago, prices in Louisiana are 45.3 cents lower per gallon. The lowest price of gas in Louisiana was $2.59/g on Sunday, with the highest being $4.99/g.
For reference, the national average price of gas has fallen 6.9 cents per gallon in the last week, which averages to $3.78/g, and is down 55.6 cents per gallon from a month ago.
On this date for the past five years, here’s how Louisiana’s gas prices compare to the nation’s average:
June 29, 2025: $2.75/g (U.S. Average: $3.14/g)
June 29, 2024: $2.93/g (U.S. Average: $3.48/g)
June 29, 2023: $3.02/g (U.S. Average: $3.51/g)
June 29, 2022: $4.37/g (U.S. Average: $4.85/g)
June 29, 2021: $2.76/g (U.S. Average: $3.12/g)
Copyright 2026 KNOE. All rights reserved.
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Julia Letlow and Jamie Davis will face off this fall for U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s seat after winning their respective party runoffs Saturday night.
Letlow won the Republican runoff over John Fleming with 57% of the vote, less than an hour after polls closed on June 27. Davis won the Democratic nomination in a landslide, securing 80% of the vote over Gary Crockett.
Letlow, Davis claim victories
“I’ll fight for our families, I’ll fight for our farmers. I’ll fight for our teachers. I will fight for our parents. I’ll fight for our law enforcement. I will fight for everyone in this room, and we are just getting started,” Letlow said.
Davis said the issues driving his campaign cross party lines.
“Everybody wants better healthcare. Everybody wants better education for their children. Everybody wants a leg up with affordability. And everybody wants the Constitution to be upheld. Those issues are nonpartisan. I don’t have to change nothing but keep working,” Davis said.
Low turnout, Trump endorsement shaped Republican race
Estimated turnout was about 18% of registered voters. Political analyst Jim Engster said the low turnout actually benefited Fleming, who captured 43% of the vote, but was not enough to overcome President Trump’s endorsement of Letlow.
“He really had the 8 ball against him when President Trump endorsed Julia Letlow. President Trump is Hercules of Republican politics, and he’s carried this state three times by about 60 percent of the votes each time,” Engster said.
Engster said the results reflect the broader political landscape in Louisiana.
“It says that it’s more of the same. We’re a Republican state, and until further notice, we vote red in major elections,” Engster said.
New closed primary system draws scrutiny
Saturday’s election was the first major cycle under Louisiana’s new closed party primary system, in which Democratic voters could only choose Democratic candidates and Republican voters could only choose Republican candidates.
Engster said the change had a significant impact on participation, pointing to Cassidy’s vote totals as an example.
“Bill Cassidy might very well have held onto his seat in an open primary. After all, in the last open primary, he got 1,228,000 votes. This time he got 99,000 votes, so that’s a big difference,” Engster said.
Engster said critics of the closed primary system will use the turnout figures to make their case.
“It’ll be a case in which those who are against the closed primary will make the case that ‘The open primary may have its flaws, but more people participate. And after all, that is what we want. We want more people voting in our elections,” Engster said.
Road to November 2026
History suggests Republicans hold the advantage heading into the general election. Engster noted that Louisiana’s last elected Democratic senator was Mary Landrieu in 2008.
“It would really be a political miracle for Jamie Davis to win. Those things happen, but right now it’s a long shot, and there’s a lot of heavy lifting for him to do and for the Democratic Party to do to try to make up the inherent gap that is evident in Louisiana politics,” Engster said.
Letlow and Davis will face off in the general election on November 3.
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