BY: ANNA KAMINSKI
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — School districts across Kansas will receive a 20-page report containing guidance on cell phones that recommends daytime cell phone bans, mental health awareness and bolstered parental oversight.
The Kansas State Board of Education hasn’t mandated digital device policies, instead deferring to local districts and schools to create their own. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the report’s recommendations and directed Kansas Department of Education staff to send it to local districts.
“Prior to the vote, Board Chair Melanie Haas of Overland Park emphasized the State Board accepting the report was an acknowledgement of the task force’s work, not an endorsement of the recommendations,” said Denise Kahler, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Education, in a Tuesday news release.
The 36-member task force consisted of state board members, district officials, school employees, students, parents and legislators who crafted 22 recommendations for locales. They met weekly between late August and early November and divided their recommendations into three categories: personal devices in school, screen time and mental health and parental oversight of district-owned devices.
State education officials proposed the task force in July, envisioning it as a way to examine how students use cell phones and other digital devices and the toll social media takes on their mental health. It was a way to help districts distill research into clear guidelines that they can use if they choose to create local policies, said Randy Watson, state education commissioner, at Tuesday’s meeting.
“This is not the state board telling any local district what you shall do,” he said.
Initial recommendations suggest districts should mandate K-12 students’ personal cell phones be powered off from the beginning of the school day to the end, including during lunch and passing periods, and stored in an off-limits location. Such restrictions are called bell-to-bell policies.
“A 2024 study reveals 72% of high school teachers, 33% of middle school teachers, and 6% of elementary school teachers say students distracted by cell phones in class is a major problem,” the report said.
Some studies also link screen time and school performance, the report said.
The task force also recommended districts create personal device policies for school staff, develop safety and emergency procedures that don’t rely on students’ personal devices and identify a district’s technology gaps so students aren’t forced to use their own devices.
Parental oversight had the lengthiest list of recommendations, with 13 items. The task force suggested policies should allow families to have stronger oversight over their students’ district-owned devices Some included broader parental controls, full access to student devices, the ability to block certain websites and the use of systems that let families see a mirrored view of a student’s screen.
About 47% of voting task force members opposed the screen mirroring recommendation, and 45% opposed the recommendation suggesting districts allow families to manage and request additional blocked websites on district-owned devices, according to the report.
The task force also endorsed stronger educational efforts to help parents understand how they can manage and monitor student devices.
Under mental health and screentime, the task force recommended districts implement independent, research-based guidance on online use and its effects on mental health, regular breaks from screens throughout the school day and means of communication with students and families outside of social media platforms.
About 40% of voting members opposed the recommendation for communication outside of social media.
Task force members sifted through national research illustrating the detrimental impact of social media and excessive screen time on adolescents. The report cited a 2023 study that found 46% of adolescents say social media makes them feel worse about their body image and a 2018 study in which 59% of teens said they have experienced cyberbullying.
The state board’s direction comes about a week after the U.S. Department of Education urged states and local school districts to create their own “well-thought-out” cell phone policies.