Rebekah Bruesehoff recalls the distraction of her cellphone vibrating with a notification in her back pocket when she was in class.
Now, during class, the Cherry Hill High School West senior keeps the phone in her backpack — following a new districtwide policy this school year banning any cellphone use in the classroom by high school students.
"Overall, we've gotten used to it," Bruesehoff said of Cherry Hill students who no longer are allowed to let text messaging and social media compete with the lessons in the classroom.
Bruesehoff and others spoke about the policy in Cherry Hill — South Jersey's largest school district in the 2023-24 school year with 10,651 students — the day after Gov. Phil Murphy said he would support a policy to direct school districts across New Jersey to ban cellphones from K through 12 classrooms.
"Our children are inundated with screens and if you ask just about any educator, they will tell you that mobile devices are a distraction in the classroom, that they are fueling a rise in cyber bullying, and they are making it incredibly difficult for our kids not only to learn but to retain the substance of what they learn," the governor said Tuesday in his State of the State address.
Many districts in the state already have beaten Murphy to restrictions, but details of any state guidelines, and whether they are more restrictive than existing policies, are awaited.
In Cherry Hill, high school students must put away their phones during class but may use them between classes and elsewhere in school. Middle school students must put them in their backpacks, which go into their lockers for the school day.
The student handbook for Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees states that cellphones cannot be used during class time, but may be used during lunch, in study halls and while changing classes.
Robert Cloutier, superintendent of the Eastern district, said he and staff members have researched other district policies and have also read "The Anxious Generation," a book published in 2024 by author Jonathan Haidt that argues the explosion in cellphone use by children has adversely impacted their mental health.
The student handbook for the Lenape Regional High School District, which covers Evesham, Mount Laurel, Medford and other Burlington County communities, states students can bring cellphones into schools, but the devices must be turned off during the class unless the instructor permits it for instructional use.
Some teachers in other districts require students to deposit their phones in baskets or individual plastic envelopes when entering the classroom.
"We've seen increases in the attention rate in class," Cherry Hill Superintendent Kwame Morton said at a press conference the district held on Wednesday about cellphone use.
Candi Cummings, the parent of a Beck Middle School student and president of the Cherry Hill zone PTA, said the ban on cellphones anywhere in middle school has helped students to "focus longer." She said she has noticed that her son now looks at his phone when he comes home from school, but also sets it aside and goes off and does other things.
"It's nice for him to have it at the end of the (school) day," she said, because he can check for messages from home or others as he leaves school.
Morton said the ban encourages students to "talk to one another and engage in social interaction in person rather than virtually."
"We did this because, for us, it was a no-brainer," Morton said at the press conference. "I believe it's the right thing to do across the country."
