(21 Aug 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Louisville, Kentucky — 15 August 2025
1. Doss High School exterior
2. Principal Julie Chancellor interacting with students
3. Students walking without cell phones
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Julie Chancellor, Doss High School principal:
"So our school board, the Jefferson County Public school board, had voted that our policy in our district was going to be no phones from the beginning of school till the end of the school, not only in classrooms but also lunch and in the hallways. So that’s the policy that was adopted by the board and that’s the one that we’re implementing in our school."
5. Sign detailing cellphone at Doss
6. Low angle of students walking in a hallway
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Julie Chancellor, Doss High School principal:
"We’ve had about 40 times where we’ve actually had to lock up a phone for the day, so it’s really been minimal and we realized that this is an addiction and kids are addicted. I’m addicted, our staff is addicted, so we are focusing this as a supportive way to make sure that kids are doing what they need to do. So it’s gone so much better than a lot of people thought it would, but again I had faith in my kids, I knew that they would do the right thing."
8. Julie Chancellor demonstrates how phones are locked up when students don’t follow ban policy
9. School lockers at Doss
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jamel Bishop, Doss student:
"I kind of like it honestly. I feel like it’s giving teachers a chance to be more direct with their class as a whole, which kind of allows for more individual student time, if that makes any sense, because I feel like in previous years at the school people would be so locked onto their phones and then when they were given work, they would all be like, ‘Oh I have a question about this, that or that,’ but if they just paid attention earlier then that wouldn’t have been an issue."
11. School office at Doss
12. Students walking through hallway
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Atlanta — 12 August 2025
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Julie Gazmararian, Emory University professor of public health:
“I’m very supportive of what they refer to as a bell-to-bell policy from the start as you probably know that in terms of the start of the school day to the end. To me, I feel like that’s the way to go and, and I think, as I mentioned earlier, because if it’s just left up to the teacher, there’s still going to be issues, especially with the older kids of somehow they’re getting access to it. And I just think it, it’s more challenging and it puts more pressure on the teacher."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Louisville, Kentucky — 15 August 2025
14. Motivational sign at Doss
15. Students hug in hallway
STORYLINE:
Students in 17 states and the District of Columbia start the school year with new restrictions on use of cellphones.
It brings the total to 33 states that have passed laws or rules to limit student use of phones and other electronic devices in school. The movement has been remarkably quick after Florida became the first state to pass a law in 2023.
Both Democrats and Republicans have taken up the cause, reflecting a growing consensus that phones are bad for kids’ mental health and focus on learning, even though some researchers say the issue is less clear-cut.
“Anytime you have a bill that’s passed in California and Florida, you know you’re probably onto something that’s pretty popular," Georgia state Rep. Scott Hilton, a Republican, told a forum examining the issue last week in Atlanta.
“More students are willing to give up their phones and not get distracted,” she said.
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