by JD Davidson
Gov. Mike DeWine’s push to ban cellphone exploit in Ohio classrooms is meeting resistance from Republicans and Democrats.
In last week’s State of the State address, DeWine called cell phones a major distraction in public schools and asked lawmakers to develop legislation that would eliminate cell phone exploit in most classrooms.
Reps. Tom Young, R-Washington Township, and Phil Plummer, R-Dayton, agreed and introduced a bill that would effectively ban the exploit of cell phones during class time, with restricted exceptions.
The ban will cover any device not provided by the school district – cell phones, tablets, laptops, gaming devices, astute watches and headphones.
It would also require districts to develop policies that prohibit and prevent students from accessing social media platforms through the system’s online service, as well as prohibiting the exploit of TikTok on any district-owned device.
Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, agreed with the governor and believes the ban is significant, but did not immediately commit to state-level legislation to remove phones from schools.
“I think the idea of eliminating smartphones from school is a great idea. The governor talked about encouraging this. Each of us has learned to read without using smartphones. “I think this is something important that is going to happen, beyond bad content on the Internet,” said Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima.
Other Republican and Democratic legislative leaders say the state law is unnecessary. Schools can currently impose bans if they choose.
“School districts, leaders and principals have the option to do so if they feel this is a decision they need to make,” said House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Township.
House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, also believes individual districts should make local decisions.
“I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all for every school district and every situation,” Russo said.
The bill’s exception for smartphone exploit in the classroom includes situations where the teacher allows it, in an emergency or to manage a student’s health care, or when phone exploit is part of a student’s individualized educational program.
The bill would also require teaching sixth through 12th grade students about the social, emotional and physical effects of social media exploit, which would include instruction on the negative effects of misinformation, how social media manipulates behavior and how content shared on social media is persistent.
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Ohio native J.D. Davidson is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience at newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He served as a reporter, editor, editor-in-chief and publisher. Davidson is the magazine’s regional editor Central Square.
