Diocesan schools to move to phone-free classrooms

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
Cell phones are disappearing from diocesan classrooms.
 
In January 2025, the Diocese of Sioux City School Board approved a ban on cell phones, smart watches and other communications devices during school day. Last month, when Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the HF 782 to limit cell phones in public schools, it was widely covered by media.
 
The diocesan school board started discussions last fall about changing the current cell phone use policy. Patty Lansink, superintendent of Catholic schools, said she originally drafted a lengthy policy, but eventually the board adopted a more concise version.
 
 “What we ended up with was extremely simplified. We are doing a bell-to-bell ban. So, when the school day starts with the first bell until the end of the school day when the last bell rings, they cannot have their cell phones on their person,” she explained.
 
The board members were behind the effort to remove the distraction, the superintendent said, noting all were on board with the policy. School administrators were also in support of the change.
 
Lansink shared a sample parent letter that schools could use to inform their families of the upcoming changes. The letter explains that the policy “is not just about managing technology,” but to assist students in their growth.
 
“They could plug in their school name and it gives the rationale for why we are doing it,” she said. “I didn’t have anybody that had serious pushback. I think everybody felt like it’s needed.”
 
Several of the 15 diocesan school systems were already looking at ways to limit cell phone use in their classrooms before the January 2025 decision by the board, Lansink said. Some adopted local policies in recent years to curb student cell phone use.
 
Kuemper Catholic Schools in Carroll had tried various approaches in recent years including teacher discretion for phones in their classrooms, asking students to turn off their phones, and allowing phones at lunch and study hall time.
 
“This year the ban is that students can only have phones at passing times,” explained Ted Garringer, 7-12 Kuemper principal. “Cell phones in the three-minute passing times and that’s it. Kids put them in a holder as they walk into each room.”

Technology is a useful tool in the classroom but cell phones have become distracting and affect children's mental health.

However, school administration and the Kuemper board knew they needed to find a way “to get rid of them totally,” when the diocesan policy was approved. As chair of the diocesan board, Garringer had been involved in numerous discussions regarding modified or full bans for the phones before the board passed the new ban.
 
Ryan Berg, Storm Lake St. Mary 6-12 principal, said once administration was aware that a full ban would be implemented at the beginning of the 2025-26 academic year, they decided they needed to prepare the staff, students and parents for the change.
 
“As with anything new, there is always a learning curve and it takes some trial and error to get the most efficient system in place,” he explained. “We felt starting for part of the year would allow a good trial run. The start of each new school year has plenty going on already, so the opportunity to start the cell phone policy this year will make the start of next year go more smoothly because students will already know what to expect.”
 
St. Mary students gave up use of their phones during the school day during the Lenten season. Once the school was in the habit of not having phones, it was decided to continue the ban through the end of the current academic year.
 
The distractions
Berg, a 30-year teaching veteran, said St. Mary middle school students have never been allowed to have access to their phones during the school day, but there were concerns with inappropriate communication between students outside of the school day.
 
“High school students did seem much more distracted by phones and spent less time having genuine interpersonal interactions with others,” he said.
 
Garringer, also a long-time educator, said he has witnessed the impact of cell phone use in students as young as junior high, including addiction to their phones. He said the Kuemper elementary school staff is seeing phone use become more widespread in grades 4 to 6.
“They don’t even realize they are taking them out and scrolling on them,” Garringer said.
 
Both Lansink and Garringer referenced Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness, which highlights the increase in youth mental health issues due to widespread cell phone use. Lansink said the book brought the issue “to the forefront for me.”
 
“A lot of people think the mental health crisis is from COVID,” Garringer said. “They actually really align with the introduction of smart phones and when they’ve been fully integrated into society. The data shows it’s more of a negative impact on mental health.”
 
Berg said with the “trial-run” ban on phones in the second semester, he witnessed less distractions among the older students.
 
“The biggest noticeable improvement has been in the lunchroom since we put the policy in place,” he said. “Students are now interacting with each other much more rather than just having their face in their phones playing video games after eating. There is positive noise happening again.”
 
The administrators said the feedback on the policy to eliminate cell phones during school instructional time has been mostly positive from parents and educators.
 
“(Kuemper President) John Steffes and I receive positive feedback and thank yous - This is what needs to be done. We get it,” he said, adding that he has received negative feedback from the students, which he anticipated.
 

Today's graduates have had to learn to succeed despite phone distractions.

St. Mary School administrators have heard some negative feedback from parents, but most support the ban’s implementation. 

“I believe the majority of parents understand the reason behind the cell phone ban and have been on board with the policy because they realize it is what is best for the students in the long run. I think the same is true of students. Some are going to try anything possible to get around the system, but most have accepted it for what it is and have not been a problem,” Berg said.
 
Garringer pointed out that before the phone use became so widespread, schools embraced the use in the classroom in order to help the students use them as a tool, which is true when used in moderation. Some educators would prefer to see the phones remain in the classrooms that purpose, but he said most of the Kuemper educators are excited to see the phones disappear from their classrooms as “they don’t want to keep fighting it and policing it.”
 
“Some thing we’re not teaching the right way. They say we need to teach them to live with these,” Garringer said. “Maybe the way to live with them is to put them away when you are at work and everything else.”