D.C. Public Schools begin a year without cell phones

On a typical day in Dieter Lehmann Morales’ 10th grade world history class, you might have found students covertly playing video games, scrolling through TikTok, or vibing with the tunes emanating from their earbuds. But not this year.

As at all DCPS schools, Columbia Heights Education Campus just implemented a stringent cell phone ban. 

“It’s been pretty incredible seeing how different things are now in the classroom,” Lehmann Morales says.

This fall, D.C. Public Schools launched a bell-to-bell prohibition on phones in all grades, building on a pilot program that banned them in middle schools. Joining a growing number of schools around the country, the system is restricting cell phone usage on the grounds that they inhibit both academic growth and social-emotional well-being. Proponents say the measure will foster educational and developmental gains while critics express concerns over student safety and autonomy. 

So how’s it going thus far?

While the new policy has only been in place a week, Lehmann Morales says he’s already relieved to not have to confiscate digital contraband or compete with screens for attention in the classroom. He’s also seeing more attentiveness among his students.

“I’ve talked about this with my other colleagues … and it’s like night and day,” he says. “The kids seem way more focused.”

Serving 6th-12th grade students, CHEC is among the majority of DCPS high schools that already had existing cell phone restrictions in place. But in prior years, enforcement was mostly left to teachers, Lehmann Morales says, and students often found ways to get around the rules, like hiding their phones in various corners of the campus and retrieving them during breaks. Amid the new district-wide ban, the school is now enacting steeper consequences. 

Public support for school cell phone restrictions is up 6 percentage points nationally over last year, with 74% of surveyed adults in favor of a ban during instructional time. In enacting the ban, D.C. joined nearly 70% of states that have required or recommended usage restrictions for school districts. Last year, Virginia banned the devices at public schools, and roughly a third of Maryland public schools have bans in place; both Baltimore County and Prince George’s County have bell-to-bell bans, and Montgomery County restricts device usage during instructional time.

DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee says that response to date has been “relatively positive,” and the school system will continue to make refinements as they get feedback from the schools.  

About half of D.C. students are currently subject to the ban, which also applies to “personal electronic communication devices” such as smart watches, Bluetooth headphones, and tablets. DCPS allows each school to choose their own methods of implementation (whether employing lockers, pouches, or other means of securing devices during the day) and it includes exceptions for some students, including if a student is a parent or needs their device to help manage a health condition. (D.C. public charter schools will have another year to implement the policy, per legislation the D.C. Council passed in July.) 

But the phone restrictions are often unpopular with students. When Lehmann Morales reviewed the new guidelines with his class, he said most students voiced their disdain. Some DCPS students have said the new policy prevents them from using educational technology and is intended to help students focus when what they really need is more engaging instructors. 

Yasir Thomas, a junior at McKinley Technology High School, says if students want to excel in class, they will find a way to focus — no school-wide phone ban needed. 

“At the end of the day, everyone controls their own actions,” he says.

McKinley had phone restrictions in place last year but it stepped up enforcement this fall, according to Thomas. In addition to concerns around student autonomy, he says he is worried about student safety; without access to their phones, students can’t capture any problematic incidents on campus or reach their families in the event of an emergency.

“Something could be happening in my school that hasn’t gotten out yet — because no one has their phones — and my parents are completely unaware,” he says. 

Ferebee says he’s heard from parents who are concerned about being able to reach their child in a crisis, but suggested that even in those situations, it would be better for kids to stay present.

“The reality is, the last thing you want a student to be doing is using their phone, texting or calling in an emergency,” Ferebee tells the 51st. “You want them to be carefully following the guidance of an adult in those scenarios.” 

Ferebee says there are “two driving factors” behind the new ban. One is the success of the district’s two-year pilot program across its middle schools, which received “overwhelmingly positive” reviews from parents, students, and teachers in focus groups, he says. The second is the body of research around the negative impacts on teens of constantly being plugged-in, including difficulty focusing, mental health challenges, and online bullying.

Karen Loeschner’s son was part of that pilot program last year when he transferred from Fairfax County to Alice Deal Middle School in the District. The policy was a shift for the then-6th grader, who suddenly had to tuck his Apple watch into a lockable pouch during school hours. 

“[DCPS gets] a lot of criticism, but I was happy that they instituted this program,” Loeschner says. “We see our own cell phone usage get out of control, and you just want to protect your kids from that.” 

Loeschner isn’t worried about not being able to get in touch with her child during the school day, noting she can call the school office in an emergency. And as a former high school English teacher, Loeschner says she’s “been on the other side of the desk” when parents call their kids in class, disrupting lessons. 

While the middle school pilot was recent, Ferebee points to a few early indicators that it may be giving students a boost. In the District’s 2025 statewide assessments (which test both DCPS and D.C. public charter school students), the largest gains in math proficiency rates were among middle school students. And in a recent survey, the school district witnessed an 8-point jump from fall 2024 to spring 2025 in the percentage of middle-school students who report a “sense of belonging.”

Even though Thomas doesn’t agree with the ban, he still attests to the social-emotional gains of not having a device on hand all day.

“It’s been a great way for students to make new friends and actually socially—in-person—interact with each other,” he says.