ARLINGTON, Va. — It is back to school season, but when Virginia students get back to class will cellphones come with them?
The story of the summer has been what to do about cellphones in classrooms. It seems like every Northern Virginia school district has worked on a policy, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin even weighed in.
“Everybody knows kids [use cellphones], just zone out," said Camille Galdes, an Arlington County mother of three. "They just turn into zombies."
Galdes played with her middle son at the park, while she told WUSA9 she noticed screen time for her three young boys was not great.
“They need to be outside a lot,” she said. “If I showed them a TV show, they just begged for more and it just became this like power struggle, bad cycle. I could see that it elicited negative behavior.”
She said that is why she doesn’t let her boys use tablets or cellphones, but when they get to school, anything is possible.
“I even saw kids in my son's second grade class had the watches, the Apple watches,” she said.
Galdes is part of a growing number of parents concerned that the constant presence of cellphones doesn’t just affect education, it affects development. That is why she wants to see Arlington County Schools ban them.
“It’s a win-win,” she said. “It’s a no brainer, it immediately improves test scores.
Except it’s not a policy yet.
Going into school year 2024-25, here is where Northern Virginia’s largest school districts stand on their cellphone policies.
- Fairfax County, Alexandria City and Prince William County are piloting cellphones restriction programs.
- Arlington is considering restrictions that ease from elementary school to high school; a decision is expected Thursday.
- Loudoun County has a graduated restriction policy easing from elementary to high school.
- Stafford County has a full ban on phones.
On Thursday, Gov. Youngkin will be releasing a rough draft of guidance for all Commonwealth school districts. The final guidance is due in September.
“Distraction reduces learning,” American University education professor Jennifer Steele said.
She explained that despite research, it’s not as simple as enacting a ban.
“Some parents really want their kids to have cellphones because they want to be able to access their kid in an emergency,” she said. “At the same time, it’s really hard to enforce a ban -- they can become logistical issues.
It is a lesson all Northern Virginia school districts will learn this fall and hope they pass.