Gov. Shapiro Signs Bell-To-Bell Law

A big thing that a lot of folks have been talking about. It's this right here. I'm on my phone. But a lot of school districts and also states in general have been banning these phone usages throughout. You know, they're states, they don't want folks to be kids to be able to utilize their phones during school because it can be very distracting. So one of the new states that has that ban that's going to be coming into place is Pennsylvania. And we have Dr. Carrie Roach. She is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education. Doctor, thank you very much for joining us. I mean, talk to us a little bit about the importance of having this cell phone ban. Yeah, thanks for having me here. And you nailed it. This is something that really isn't isn't partisan. There are a lot of states out there that already have this in place. I believe there's 38 states, Pennsylvania being that 38 to have some form of a ban. And it is really about Taking a look at that classroom environment and making sure that students can feel supported and taking out some of the distractions that are already there. Good and I mean I did a story not too long ago actually and it was highlighting Pennsylvania with this this future ban and then also talking with folks from New Jersey about how things have been going and the governor of New Jersey was talking about the process and she was mentioning that this has really kind of helped with even like scores but then also on top of it just the communication skills of students they're just now able to really even just communicate amongst each other because they don't have the phones in their hands all the time. Yeah, that's right. This isn't taking out of students' hands all technology. I think we have to be clear about that, particularly in Pennsylvania. We're still going to allow students to use their school-issued iPads and Chromebooks and those types of devices because they have the kind of guardrails already worked into them. Students aren't going to be able to get onto social media, for example, during the school day when they're using their their school-issued device. But if we can take away the distraction of getting on to social media during the school day on a personal device like a cell phone, then we're probably going to see students engaging with each other. And, um, and... You know, not not spending too much time with that with that distraction in their hand. If you're spending more time paying attention to what the teacher is talking about, spending time working with classmates to get material learned and mastered, practicing those interpersonal skills, it's going to be better all the way around. I definitely love that. And I mean, you know, just even talking with students when doing that story, they were just talking about how much it was was helping with the change. Now, one of the things I even asked the governor and I'll even ask you is because, you know, there was a period of time where there are some schools that already, you know, tried to implement some things already. Why is it so important to just have a ban kind of statewide? So, I mean, essentially everybody's on the same, you know, playing field and have the same rules. Yeah, it's one of the things that I like most about Pennsylvania and the way that we generally handle things is to say that, hey, there's a local context here. And sometimes schools are going to have a reason for wanting to use a personal device like a cell phone, and we want to make sure that that still exists. So over time, schools have put those things into place. And now we say we see where the five or six most. The biggest issues, let's say the five or six biggest issues, where it would be okay to use a cell phone, and other than that, we don't want to see them. So I think this piece of legislation really acknowledges that important tension between the role that technology plays in the modern classroom and the distraction that the cell phones really can create. And one of the interesting things doctor that you had mentioned was the fact that this is a bipartisan situation and you know it appears as though this is an issue the the cell phone use has become an issue and it doesn't matter where you are. I mean you can be in an urban community, you can be in a rural community, you can be in a suburban community, but this was really an issue that was going on and affecting schools all throughout the state. That's right. This isn't just like an urban issue. This isn't something that is simply you would find in like a Philadelphia urban school. And it's not something that you would find in just a, say, a rural school in McKean County. Everybody is facing this issue. And there's a local context that that's at play here. So I think it's probably the thing that I like best about this particular piece of legislation is that it gives schools a clear framework for reducing distractions in the classroom, while at the same time, it trusts school leaders to make the decisions that reflect those local contexts, those differences between, say, A Philadelphia school and a school in McKean or Tioga County. Very good. Last thing I'll ask you, because it has been signed by Governor Josh Shapiro. When will this go into effect? It's the next school year, right? That's right. This goes into effect the first day of the 27-28 school year. Now, as you mentioned earlier, a lot of schools already have some cell phone ban in place, whether it's bell to bell or it is only during instructional time. And there, of course, are schools that don't have that ban at all. But by the first day of the 27-28 school year, all schools will be required to have a cell phone policy. That comports with the legislation, and that means the time the student walks into school until the bell rings at the end of the day, students are not to have their cell phones in their possession or using it unless they are using one of those approved exceptions. Very good. Dr. Rowe, is there anything else that you would like to mention that I didn't ask you that you wanted to convey to the viewers? No, I just think that this is, this is, you know, a powerful piece of technology. This is part of that foundation that we've been building in Pennsylvania, where we're seeing graduation rates rise, we're seeing test scores rise, we've seen funding for schools rise. And with this idea of getting this distraction out of the school day, I think we're going to continue to see those things on the rise. Dr. Rowe, thank you so much for joining us. Truly appreciate it.