Bill to remove cell phones from school classrooms advancing through Oklahoma legislature

Okla. (KXII) – A bill with the goal of removing cell phones from school classrooms advanced past the Appropriations and Budget Education Subcommittee on Monday.

The bill is House Bill 3913, authored by Oklahoma Rep. Chad Caldwell.

“This seemed like a pretty simple change that could really have a dramatic, positive impact for our students,” Caldwell said.

The bill would provide schools with grant money for their own system for keeping cell phones out of the classroom.

“It’s a one year pilot that encourages nine schools to establish a phone free program at their school,” Caldwell said. “We wanted to give them the ability to try and find the solution that that maybe makes the most sense for this school in their community.”

Caldwell says they would track the information over the course of the year and review it after the school year is over to see the impact on things like education outcomes, discipline and mental health issues.

Some believe that the removal of cell phones would also represent the removal of distractions during learning opportunities.

“I am certainly old enough to remember a time that every kid didn’t have a cell phone, and everybody seemed to get along just fine,” Caldwell said.

Some wonder about the wisdom of taking phones away should an emergency arise.

“I think the best thing is to try and limit the distractions,” Caldwell said. “To make sure that they are able to completely focus on the adult in the front of the room who is able to give them instructions and say what exactly to do to keep them safest.”

The exact protocol in emergencies will be left up to the individual schools.

Caldwell said that they’re still at the beginning of the process, but he feels good about getting across the finish line.

“I’m pretty confident that we can find a solution that really makes the most sense for our schools, but really also for our students and their parents as well,” Caldwell said.

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