An update from Palo Alto Unified School District’s Superintendent Don Austin on Aug. 23 stated that the district will discuss and consider next steps regarding smartphone policies in schools across the district.

In late August, California legislators passed a bill, known as the Phone-Free School Act, requiring every school district, charter school and county office of education to develop a policy limiting the use of smartphones by July 1, 2026.

Currently, the district plans to continue its current approach to phone policy — fully restricting cell phones in middle schools and allowing teachers to restrict cell phones in high schools, even without a blanket policy. The district chief technology officer Derek Moore wrote that there are “no changes currently proposed to any existing operating procedures.”

Palo Alto High School English Teacher Lizzie DeKraai said she would support an official policy that would not allow phones out during class. She also mentioned that it’s becoming more common for teachers to collect students’ phones at the start of class.

“The research is clear, even having a phone out on my desk flipped upside down is still limiting my focus and my ability to process and retain information,” DeKraai said.

Junior Harrison Lan feels that it should be the student’s decision whether to use cell phones during work time and disagrees with a potential full cell phone ban in classes.

“It’s a good way to contact parents if an emergency really happens,” Lan said. “If you take away phones, it’s just less safe for students.”