The approach by the four school systems in Webster County varies, but one administrator is very pleased with the trend that is increasingly getting mobile phones out of student hands during class time.

St. Edmond Catholic School Principal Maurice Ruble cited research, surveys and also information in the 2024 bestseller “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”

“We are waking up to the reality of the research on the negatives of mobile phone addiction,” he said. “These things are terrible for young people and terrible for schools.”

“The fact is that we are raising the most anxious, depressed generation, and cell phones are to blame,” he said.

Plus, teachers are seeing less distracted pupils when phone access is dialed back during school hours, several school officials said.

Southeast Valley School District Superintendent Brian Johnson said about four years ago, before he arrived as the chief administrator, it was decided that middle school students would be without phones for the entire school day.

The Southeast Valley middle schoolers put their phones in a specified spot in their first period homerooms, then get them back at the end of the day.

“I believe the change to be positive,” Johnson said. “Obviously, students are less distracted because of social media and the internet. I have no data, but I also assume that most issues with social media have decreased, especially during the school day.”

At Southeast Valley High School, Principal Kerry Ketcham said the policy is that students do not use their phones during instructional time.

“That is handled in a variety of ways,” Ketcham said. “Some teachers tell students to put their phones away. One teacher has them face down on desktops. Some teachers use a basket or box or cell phone caddy on the wall to collect phones during the class period.”

“We tried to have a uniform practice, but it was not uniformly applied,” he added. “With the current system, we have fewer issues between staff and students over cell phones.”

Ruble harkened back to the advent of the most basic cell phones with very limited texting in about 2000. Once cell phones became more like “little computers” with internet, apps, and social media, he said, things deteriorated. That got worse once young people began using them in elementary grades.

“The addiction of cell phones is a definite addiction,” Ruble said.

Parents make varying choices on what age their children can use phones.

“I believe the appropriate age for a child to use a cell phone depends on the child’s maturity, the purpose for which they need the phone and ultimately the discretion of the parents or guardian,” said Dan Altman, the president of the Fort Dodge Community School District Board of Education.

“During school hours, cell phone use should not interfere with classroom learning and should be limited to necessary communication with parents or guardians,” he added.

Fort Dodge Community School District Communications Director Lydia Schuur said the rules were first adopted six years ago at the high school. In grades six through 12, no phones can be used during instructional times and only checked during non-class times.

Fort Dodge students are told that from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., the expectations are that cell phones must be out of sight, in a bag or pocket during class, according to Schuur. If the attention of a student is drawn to a smartwatch on their wrist, it must be turned over to the teacher.

People who need to reach middle or high school students in Fort Dodge during the day are to contact an office to leave a message.

At Fort Dodge and all the Webster County school systems, students who run afoul of the mobile phone restrictions can be disciplined.

Students have a host of school-provided technologies to use. On top of that, some teachers allow pupils to use their personal phones for research in class. That periodically takes place in the Manson Northwest Webster School District, Superintendent Justin Daggett said.

According to Manson Northwest Webster policies, students may not use electronic devices not issued by the district unless they have received prior permission from the administration. Cell phones are permitted during passing time between classes, during lunch, and can be used if a teacher has students access them for educational use.

Ruble said St. Edmond middle schoolers cannot have phones visibly out during the day. High school students can glance at them when passing between periods, as a tweak to the rules this year. He said the reality is that having to have teachers patrolling would be too difficult to uniformly enforce.

“That is not a hill to die on,” he said.

Ruble said the dynamics of phones in Iowa schools continue to be in flux. When the school year began in August, he told an assembly of high schoolers that more of a total ban like in the middle school could be coming.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said recently that she may ask the Legislature to ban student use of cell phones in schools.