Login | September 22, 2025
Should cellphones in K-12 classrooms be banned?
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: September 19, 2025
As more and more states seek to regulate student cellphone use in K-12 schools, it’s important for parents to familiarize themselves with the changes.
More than two-dozen states ban or limit cellphones in classrooms and a few others have adopted policies encouraging districts to limit their use during class time.
While some districts may restrict usage to lunch and other free periods, other places have policies prohibiting smartphones throughout the entire school day.
In Ohio, every school district, community school and STEM school has until Jan. 1, 2026 to adopt policies prohibiting smartphone use during the instructional day, with some exceptions for learning or to monitor a student health condition.
As Kit Yona discusses in Sept. 3 post on FindLaw (https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/law-and-life/can-a-school-take-my-kids-cell-phone/) reviewed by attorney Joseph Fawbush, the changing landscape has many questioning whether districts have the right to implement policies and seize the phones of those who violate them.
In the story entitled “Can a School Take My Kid’s Cell Phone?” Yona says in most instances schools do have the right to take away student cellphones and other electronic devices.
They can also restrict or ban access during the instructional day. Polices do vary greatly from state to state, with some places allowing them to be used as part of a student's individualized education program (IED) or implementing more lenient rules for older age groups.
Private schools can also create much stricter policies since they do not receive public funding, says Yona.
In some instances, students may be required to keep their phones in their lockers throughout the school day, while other places may provide students with pouches that are locked and unlocked based on the rules, with violators subject to having their phones temporarily seized by teachers or administrators.
Yona says how long a phone is allowed to remain in school custody depends upon the institution’s policy, which may also dictate who can pick it up, i.e., the student or a parent/guardian.
Generally speaking, administrators do not have the right to examine the phone’s private contents or demand that the student unlock the device, she says.
“Since it’s highly unlikely the school would have the appropriate ‘reasonable suspicion’ to do so, it would be a violation of the student’s Fourth Amendment protection from illegal search and seizure,” says Yona.
Still it’s best to prevent the situation to begin with by gaining a clear understanding of school polices and helping to ensure your children follow the rules.