America's second-largest school district to ban cellphones and social media

America's second-largest school district has voted to ban cellphones and social media for its 429,000 K-12 students during school hours. 

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) district's board passed the staggering measure to ban the devices at school with a 5-2 vote on Tuesday.

This doubles down on their last policy revision in 2011, when the school district decided to ban students from using cell phones during classes and limited social media use at school to 'educational purposes.' 

The new drastic policy change will be implemented effective in the 2025 school year. LAUSD is now faced with the task of developing updated policies within 120 days. 

Proposed measures include locked pouches, cellphone lockers or technological solutions to enforce the ban.

America's second-largest school district has voted to ban cellphones and social media for its 429,000 K-12 students during school hours

Board member and sponsor of the ban, Nick Melvoin, told CNN that students' addiction to their phones has impacted their ability to socialize, affecting their mental health and academic success

Policies would be 'informed by best practices and by input from experts in the field, labor partners, staff, students and parents,' the school said. 

The drastic policy revision also aims to accommodate students using phones for translation and is also meant to evaluate social media's impact on youth.

Board member and sponsor of the ban, Nick Melvoin, said students' addiction to their phones has impacted their ability to socialize, affecting their mental health and academic success.

'Our students are glued to their cell phones – not unlike adults,' Melvoin said. 

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) district's board passed the measure to ban cellphones and social media use at school with a 5-2 vote on Tuesday

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'They're surreptitiously scrolling in school, in class time. They have their head in their hands walking down the hallways. They're not talking to each other or playing at lunch or recess because they have their AirPods in.' 

The resolution, cosponsored by Board President Jackie Goldberg, Board Member Kelly Gonez, and Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin, mandates the development of a comprehensive policy to enforce the ban. 

Goldberg said cell phone use has gotten 'out of control.'  

'It's gotten to the point that students don't talk face to face, but instead text one another when they're sitting right next to each other,' said Goldberg. 

'Research tells us what we already know: excessive cell phone use impacts students' mental health and academic performance. It's time to update our policy and make it a district-wide responsibility,' she added. 

The resolution, cosponsored by Board President Jackie Goldberg, Board Member Kelly Gonez, and Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin, mandates the development of a comprehensive policy to enforce the ban. Pictured: Superintendent Albert Carvalho

Board member and sponsor of the ban, Nick Melvoin, said students' addiction to their phones has impacted their ability to socialize, affecting their mental health and academic success

'Gonez said the negative impacts of cell phone use in adolescents, particularly the addictive qualities of social media are 'increasingly clear.'

'It's important that we take proactive steps in addressing these challenges when students are in our care, and updating our cell phone policy will help ensure we can focus on learning during the school day,' said Gonez. 

Franklin said it breaks his heart when he visits campuses during lunchtime to see  'students sitting alone, isolated on their phones instead of engaging and learning with their peers.'

'A study on the harmful impacts of cell phones and their excessive use is long overdue,' said Rivas. 

'It is important for the Board of Education to balance many interests - including fostering distraction-free learning environments, minimizing inequitable implementation of school policies, and retaining some flexibility and resources for our schools to address their local interests and issues.' 

This comes just one day after US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H Murthy called for social media platforms to enforce an immediate warning label -similar to warnings on cigarette packs mandated by Congress in the 60s

Nearly three quarters, or 72 percent of high school teachers, have said cell phone distraction 'is a major problem in the classroom,' according to Pew Research Center report last week. 

This comes just one day after US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H Murthy called for social media platforms to enforce an immediate warning label - similar to warnings on cigarette packs mandated by Congress in the 60s.

'The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency -- and social media has emerged as an important contributor,' Murthy wrote in a New York Times op-ed Monday.