After months of discussion, the Hanover County School Board adopted a policy change prohibiting students from using cellphones, earbuds, smartwatches and other mobile devices at certain points during the school day.
The board’s decision Tuesday came hours after Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order pushing for school districts throughout the commonwealth to restrict students’ cell phone usage.
When asked about the measure, Youngkin told VPM News that the administration plans to engage with educators and experts as the Virginia Department of Education drafts model policies to enhance student health and learning.
“For over a decade, we've seen our kids far more distracted and engaged in the bullying of social media, because of what they can do on their cellphones,” Youngkin said. “We've heard literally day after day requests from parents and educators [to] ‘Please help us do something.’ And so this is a massive step to make sure that our children are safer, healthier and can learn better.”
Youngkin said it’s clear cellphones and social media platforms have had an impact on students’ health throughout the commonwealth. Studies have shown that using smartphones made students more likely to be disengaged during classroom discussions. Excessive phone use can also lead to external health factors — like poor sleep, anxiety, loneliness and depression.
Virginia lawmakers batted around legislation that would have granted school boards the ability to ban cellphones. Though the bill advanced out of the House of Delegates, the proposal was not taken up in the state Senate.
Legislation around student health and learning loss related to social media and smartphones continues to garner bipartisan support on the state and federal level.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D–Va.) worked alongside Sen. Tom Cotton (R–Ark.) to introduce bipartisan legislation that would require the U.S. Department of Education to study the effects of cellphone use in K-12 classrooms.
The legislation would also create a five-year, $25-million pilot program to provide schools with secure containers for students to store phones during school hours. Hopewell launched a similar program in its middle and high schools in 2022, and several Richmond schools followed suit this January.
In response to Youngkin’s executive order, Kaine said in a statement that he’s “committed to doing all that I can to help students overcome learning loss,” and that he’s “glad to see more action on the state level in Virginia.”
Hanover’s policy is similar to many across the commonwealth. Under the revised code of conduct, students are prohibited from using any mobile device — including earbuds and headphones — during the instructional day, class changes and lunch.
Mobile devices and earbuds must be powered off and placed out of sight during class time, which begins when a student enters the building and does not end until the dismissal bell rings.
Students must store their mobile devices in their backpacks throughout the school day, except in approved situations related to educational accommodation or medical monitoring. If a student does not have a backpack or locking device to store their mobile device, the school’s new policy is to provide one.
“Our policies are in line to support what our governor is putting out right now,” Chair Bob May said during the board’s Tuesday discussion. “However, our plan is that if the governor puts out guidance from VDOE, we would then revise it as we need to throughout the year.”
Hanover’s revised rules will go into effect when the new school year starts in August. Students caught breaking the policy could face a variety of punishments, based on grade level and the number of times they break the new policy.
