Seven Days: VT Schools are Banning Smartphones to Limit Distractions
- lizaearle
- Feb 9
- 2 min read
Harwood Union Middle and High School principals Meg McDonough, left, and Laurie Greenberg
Phones and social media are affecting young peoples' ability to focus and hurting their mental health, so schools are rolling out restrictions.
By Alison Novak
Sept. 4, 2025
When students enter Erin Carter's math class at Spaulding High School in Barre, they put their phones on a counter on one side of the room. Carter then makes sure the total matches the number of students in the classroom.
It's a ritual the 20-year classroom veteran introduced a decade ago to address an issue that most every high school and middle school teacher is now dealing with: how to establish an environment where kids can focus and learn, free from the distraction of digital devices.
So far, Carter's school has left it to teachers to set their own rules on student cellphones in the classroom. But in several districts across Vermont this fall, schools are introducing stricter policies to answer widespread worries that phone use is fragmenting young peoples' attention and diminishing their ability to interact with others.
Several, including Harwood Union Middle and High School in Duxbury and Thetford Academy in Thetford Center, have purchased lockable pouches in which students are required to store their phones during school hours. Others are forbidding use of the devices only during instructional time. Students got their first taste of the new rules when classes resumed last week and reported a smooth start.
The experiences of these schools will likely help inform Vermont lawmakers, who in January will consider statewide legislation aimed at banning phones during the school day. Vermont could join eight other states that have restricted phones, including Florida, Indiana, Louisiana and South Carolina. Large urban districts including Los Angeles and New York City have also announced impending bans.
The issue has taken on greater urgency amid research findings that social media — used "almost constantly" by more than one-third of 13- to 17-year-olds, according to a Pew Research Center study — has contributed to a sharp increase in youth anxiety and depression. Last year, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy pronounced social media "a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents." ...click here to read the full story.
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