JENISON, Mich. — Students at Jenison High School have been learning without their phones inside the classroom for two years, and educators say the results speak for themselves: increased focus, engagement and connection in the classroom.
With Governor Gretchen Whitmer's signature on Tuesday, schools statewide will now have to work to limit cell phone use in schools. But here in Jenison, the policy has already been in place for two years.
Jenison math teacher Ryan Nelson said that consistency has changed the tone of the classroom.
"It's been great. It's been minimal interactions in the negative and more in the positive," Nelson said.
The policy is called "No Cell Bell to Bell." Jenison High School Principal Dr. Michael Leiter explained what led to the rule.
"We went through a restructure of our student handbook about two years ago because we noticed that cell phones were becoming a bit of an issue without a more intentional policy in place," Leiter said.
The school uses cell phone caddies to collect devices during class time. Leiter said data shows the policy is working.
"We always collect data on our kids — both academic data and behavior data. Because of that rule, we've seen a huge impact in terms of the number of incidents with cell phones, as well as distractions in the classroom," Leiter said.
Like many schools, leaders here did hear some early concerns from the community.
"Whenever there's a big change in policy, you're going to see some pushback, and we've had a few of those," Leiter said. "We obviously have offices open all day, and kids can call home or connect with their parents whenever needed. We haven't seen an issue with that."
"This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy."
