New Mexico is one of several U.S. states that is moving to ban or restrict cellphones in school, a trend that continues to win bipartisan support in legislatures.
At the Roundhouse last Thursday, the state house of representatives voted 59 to 4 to pass Senate Bill 11, called the “Anti-Distraction Policy in Schools.”
It was sponsored by Republican Senator Crystal Brantley, from Elephant Butte, and Democratic senator Mo Maestas, of Albuquerque.
The measure, if signed by the governor, will require each school district and charter school in New Mexico to adopt a wireless communication device policy by August of this year.
The Public Education Department would be required to develop statewide guidelines that establish the minimum requirements for wireless policies.
Democratic Senator Bill Soules, chair of the Senate Education Committee, and a former psychology and math teacher in Las Cruces, voted for the bill but only after he convinced his colleagues that local officials should independently determine their schools’ anti-distraction policies.
”I don't think it's our responsibility at the state level to micromanage,” Soules said.
“We've got school boards, we've got principals, we've got superintendents, and if it's right for their community, they need to go and do the public relations work and can do that. The bill that actually got through the Senate that had a ban on cell phones, I did a floor amendment that enabled districts. To ban them if they choose, but didn't require that they ban them, that responsibility really lies at the district level.”
The New Mexico legislation would define portable electronic devices as those capable of transmitting voice, text, or data, encompassing cellular phones, smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, laptops, and gaming devices.
One of the other states taking a similar step, Georgia, saw its senate vote 54-2 yesterday to give final approval to a bill that would ban use of phones or other personal electronic devices in grades K-8 from during the school day.
There are currently nine states that ban phones in school, though a full ban, as Soules just explained, won’t necessarily be the policy in every New Mexico school.
The push for cellphone bans has been driven by concerns about the impact screen time has on children’s mental health and complaints from teachers that cellphones have become a constant distraction in the classroom.
The New Mexico measure would allow for exceptions and permit use of wireless devices when medically necessary in relation to a documented disability accommodation.
Partially adapted from an Associated Press story.
