From vaping, the cost of school supplies to cellphone policies, the WTOP team is studying up on hot-button topics in education across the D.C. region. Follow on air and online in our series “WTOP Goes Back to School” this August and September.
If you’re a parent, you may already know about the newest TikTok trends or that Instagram filters are “so out.” You may also know firsthand that social media can negatively affect children’s (3 to 18-year-olds) mental health.
In June, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for warning labels to be put on social media sites — a la cigarette carton warnings — citing a “youth mental health crisis” stemming from social media. He said what he’s seen is an “emergency” that shows a direct correlation between screen time and the rise in anxiety and depression among the youth.
Many local schools have created initiatives or have extra services that focus on helping students’ mental health while expressing the harms that come from spending too much time online.
The question then is that if phone use becomes less and less prevalent in schools, will students truly be more focused during class and will there be a notable growth in academic achievement?
“You can’t take something away and not replace it,” said Sharde O’Rourke, an author and licensed marriage and family therapist from Virginia.
“Kids are struggling with basic social skills, which is why the whole conversation around phones in schools is a really tricky one. Because that is the way that they’ve learned to connect with the world,” she added. “How are we teaching them the skills that they need to be successful without that (social) tool?”
O’Rourke added that parents should be doing more to engage their child in ways that don’t involve technology so, when they get home from school, they’re less incentivized to get right back on their phones.
“Set up a healthy routine for them that doesn’t involve them just staying engaged in electronic things at home. They should be going outside. They should be socializing with other kids after school,” she said. “Your child will be more invested if you are. If you’re not invested, they’re not either.”
O’Rourke said effective communication, boundary-setting and creative stimulation are the best ways to engage with your child in a way that shows them how to be present — and off their phones. Just because it’s a 21st-century problem, doesn’t mean it can’t use a 20th-century solution.
She also recommended that school systems create a collaborative environment that includes the community in conversations about what’s best for students.
“Let’s also bring in some mental health support so we cannot only support the students, but the teachers. … The people making the decisions are now making the teachers’ jobs very difficult because the fight is not going to be at the macro level, the fight is going to be at the micro level,” O’Rourke said.
Although Virginia schools may not be able to provide extra mental health services for students for the upcoming school year, O’Rourke said they could bring in mental health experts to at least consult on new cellphone policies.
“How can we work together to create a plan, and what is that plan going to look like in execution?” she said. “There has to be some thoughts around how the system is setting our kids up to be successful and also be excited about learning again, being at school, excited about the families being engaged and feeling supported by the school along with their teachers.”
In school, ‘cellphones definitely make the job more difficult’
Across the country, teachers and school staff have noticed an uptick in students’ use of their phones in schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 77% of U.S. schools said they prohibit cellphones at school for nonacademic use. Now schools across the D.C. area are updating their policies to keep kids off their phones and paying more attention during class time.
For example, D.C.’s Dunbar High School has a “zero-tolerance (policy) for the use of cellphones during the instructional day.” Meanwhile, students in D.C.’s School Without Walls get a “class-wide reminder” after the first in-class violation of its phone policy.
In July, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order that explained that by next year, schools across the state will need to implement stricter guidelines on cellphones. He claimed a “mental health crisis” among students stemmed from “extensive” social media and cellphone use, and more restrictive policies statewide would eliminate disruptions and improve academic success.
In Fairfax County, the state’s largest public school system, educators are testing the waters of the new order with a pilot program in seven middle schools. Students at the selected middle schools will have to put their phones in magnetic Yondr pouches that they can only unlock at an unlocking station at the end of the day.
“From the perspective of educators, I would say that most educators are looking forward to this change, because cellphones definitely make the job more difficult,” said David Walrod, president of the Fairfax County Federations of Teachers. “It’s really hard for students to maintain focus when they have such a temptation.”
Walrod added that although most parents understand this is “a necessary step” in enforcing discipline in schools, some are critical over the lack of access to their children during the school day.
“I think that a lot of folks really want to be able to maintain that kind of regular contact with their students. So, I think that causes some anxiety,” he said.
Among the most common criticisms from parents is concern over how a student will be able to use their phone in the case of an emergency. Likewise, in July a parent named Kim told WTOP that her diabetic son uses his phone to monitor his glucose levels during the school day.
Youngkin’s executive order tasks school administrators with creating and enforcing cellphone-free policies for their schools, but it’s still on a case-by-case situation. Many schools will still have exceptions for students who have individualized education programs (IEPs) for special needs and disabilities, and some have updated their policies regarding students’ health.
Many have also called on the state to work with parents and educators to collaborate on implementing a policy that works best for everyone.
“The state hasn’t given any indication that they’re planning on giving more support,” Walrod said in regard to provided services for students in the next school year. “What happens all too often, when regulations get put into place, is you have some administration teams that are very good about backing up teachers and very good about making sure that rules get followed, and you have other administrative teams that aren’t so worried about it.”
“If I had to say, personally, I hope … that the project that’s being followed in seven schools, I hope it’s successful and that they expand that, but some of that still remains to be seen,” he added.
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