The school phone ban enacted for elementary and middle schoolers has gone statewide for high schoolers, impacting public high schools across Georgia.

On March 23, the Georgia senate passed a bill prohibiting the use of cell phones in high school classrooms. The senate’s vote of approval for the bill was unanimous. The bill, (the “bell-to-bell” ban), specifically restricts students from using their cell phones from the first bell to the dismissal bell. The new restrictions will be put in place during the 2027-2028 school year.

Hadley Hayes is a freshman at Atlanta Classical Academy, a public charter school that has already gone phone-free.

“I can see it impacting my school by the students talking to one another instead of being on their phones and the students being much more focused during discussions,” Hayes said.

Senior Kai Huber noted a possible way for the state phone ban to work, highlighting a tactic that some teachers used before Yondr Pouches.

“I think if you had to put your phone in like a pouch, like when the teachers have those pouches hanging on the wall and they would take attendance from that, I think that’s fine,” Huber said. “I don’t think that yonder pouches are effective, and I think they cost too much, and the money could be used for other things.”

Just a year prior, lawmakers passed restrictions on phones for grades Kindergarten through eighth grade. These restrictions are soon to take place, beginning in the 2026-2027 school year. This law strictly prohibits cell-phone usage throughout all hours of the school day, but there has been talk of potential amendments to the newer cell-phone ban, allowing short periods of phone usage during transition periods.

Senator Sally Harrell is a part of the Senate Committee on education and youth. She voted in approval of the new state-wide phone ban.

“The Senate Impact of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence on Children and Platform Privacy Protection Study Committee, which I co-chaired and met last fall, reviewed preliminary findings from a survey of over 3,000 teachers, and the feedback about the law was overwhelmingly positive, with positive responses from approximately 90% of respondents,” Harrell said. 

However, Common criticism of a phone ban is students not being able to reach family or guardians in the event of an emergency. Huber emphasized school safety as a reason for students to have access to their phones.

“I think students should have access to their phones during school hours in case of emergencies, especially with school shootings being so prevalent,” Huber said. 

Midtown is among the high schools that began implementing a cell-phone ban prior to this new law through the Yondr pouch policies. Midtown students are more acquainted with restrictions on phone usage during school; however, other high school students will have to adjust. 

Dr. Cheryl Nahmias is a support program specialist who helped implement Yondr pouches at Midtown.

“I would advise them to plan carefully and to involve everyone in their plan — teachers and students, especially, but parents and other school staff, as well. Then be super clear and transparent about what your rules and procedures are. Finally, when enforcing the rules, be super consistent and treat all infractions the same,” Dr. Nahmias said.

This law’s purpose is to adjust both the academic and social lives of high school students. Lawmakers support this bill to encourage a more focused environment that makes learning a larger priority and prevents distractions. Furthermore, the bill encourages Georgia’s public school systems to provide students with engaging, phone free activities.

“Assuming a sound implementation, schools can expect more engaged classrooms and social spaces and improved staff morale. And those changes will result in more tangible outcomes like improved student grades, better graduation rates, fewer conflicts between peers and between staff and students,” Dr. Nahmias said.

Huber noted Midtown’s Yondr Pouch policy that went into effect last year as something that hasn’t been effective, and hopes that when the phone ban is implemented state-wide, that it will work better.

“No [I don’t think they are effective],” Huber said. “I think none of them work anymore, and they didn’t give us new ones at the beginning of the year, they spent a lot of money on them, and they aren’t that durable, and they all broke.” 

Furthermore, this law has the potential to reduce stress and work for teachers, who otherwise may be responsible for regulating students’ phone usage and ensuring they are paying attention to the material. With this phone ban, administrators will have the obligation to ensure students are not using devices during school hours, reducing the work load for some teachers.

“It’s important that disciplinary actions are handled by the administration, not individual teachers,” Harrell said. “It’s also important to go all in with no exceptions (except for those written into the law),and we also heard testimony from school districts and school administrators who have already implemented the policy. They were all very positive.”

With the enactment of the phone-free law for elementary and middle school students occurring in the near future, this year will give data on how effective the ban was at lower grade levels to predict how it may work at the high school level.

“All teachers and admin and folks working to enforce rules need to be on the same page so that fairness and equity prevail and so that students don’t feel like they are being punished. At the heart of it, these policies are not about punishment–they’re about caring enough for students to do what’s best for them,” Harrell said.