Cleveland Metropolitan School District students returning to school next week will be required to check their cell phones at the door.

CMSD has implemented a policy that limits cell phone use during school hours to comply with a new state law that went into effect in May. The district has left it up to each school to develop a system for storing the cell phones. According to the district’s website, some schools lock the cell phones in personal bags that are given to each student. Other schools may develop their own storage methods, such as collecting the cell phones in bins assigned to each classroom.

CMSD did not respond to questions about the implementation of the new policy until the publication of this article.

While most students will not return to school until August 19, classes have already started again in year-round schools after a short summer break. Phone pickup has so far gone smoothly at these schools, said Shari Obrenski, president of the Cleveland Teachers Union.

“Our building managers report that things are going quite well and the students have been quite obedient so far,” she said.

Teachers do not become “telephone police”

According to the contract between CMSD and the Cleveland Teachers Union, school administrators, not teachers, are responsible for securing students’ cell phones before class. The union doesn’t want teachers to collect the phones, Obrenski said, because that could lead to conflict with students.

“We don’t want teachers to become telephone police,” she said.

In schools that use the bag system, each student is given their own bag. When a student brings their phone to school, the administrator locks it in the bag at the beginning of the day. Students keep their bags with them throughout the day until they are unlocked by school staff at the end of school. School district CEO Warren Morgan said during a school board meeting in June that administrators are not responsible for lost or damaged phones.

Will cell phone restrictions help students?

Cell phone use in school distracts from learning and is a safety risk, said Obrenski.

“(Students) would set up fights and then live stream them,” she said. “They would text each other to avoid security.”

Obrenski expects resistance from students if schools implement this new policy. In other districts with cellphone bans, students have found ways to store their phones or cut open their personal bags, she said.

In the event that students violate the cell phone rules, the CMSD has established consequences in the Student Code of Conduct. Students can receive a written warning and the school administration can take away their cell phone for a day or an entire school year.

Still, Obrenski remains confident that students will ultimately appreciate not having to use their phones during the day. She pointed to school districts in Akron and Dayton, both of which recently banned cell phones.

“Students said, ‘Yeah, I didn’t really like giving up my phone, but I noticed that it made it easier for me to pay attention in class,'” Obrenski said. “Or, ‘Oh, I’m talking to my friends for a change. We’re having a meaningful conversation.’ We expect to see similar results in Cleveland.”