Nixa teachers, students ready for new year, new phone ban

NIXA, Mo. — As school districts across Missouri prepare for their first year under the new state ban on cell phones in the classroom, the Nixa School District is simply taking its policy from last year and strengthening it.

"Last year we had a policy where they could not have it during the actual classroom time for the hour class period, and I think that worked pretty well. I saw a big difference in the engagement of our students," Erin Livengood said.

Livengood has been teaching before cell phones even made their way into classrooms.

"When I first started teaching, cell phones weren't in the classroom. My first year of teaching, they had not even developed texting. My second year texting became available, so we didn't get to see them in the classroom, but I could see a difference in the way composing sentences were made and they wrote because they started using text lingo instead of writing standard or sentences like before, and then as they have grown in their ability to do so many things for us, they've really kind of invaded our classroom," Livengood said. "They can be quite a distraction for some kids, especially with the onset of social media, they're really interested in checking apps or just texting, but they also can be really great things. There's different apps that can really help them, like prepare for a test or have a study they can do review games on there, so there are benefits, but because teenagers are social creatures, they really kind of gravitate toward the parts that are more like social media."

Under the new law, phones can't be out at all.

Out of sight, out of mind.

"From 7:30 to the bell rings, students are not allowed to use their phones within the building, and that would include Apple Watches and communicating with each other as well. I believe that they could use them to check the time, but they're not allowed to communicate digitally with each other," Alexander Edwards said. "This year, with the total ban, there will be a few exceptions where students can use their cellphones. If they have an IEP plan that requires cell phone use or if students have a medical device that would require cell phone use, they'll be allowed to use it, but outside of those exemptions, there really isn't much carve out of the law for the students to use their cell phones."

Edwards welcomes the change.

"Cell phones can be a mixed bag. A lot of times they can be distractions in the classroom, but it really comes down to management how you manage that in your classroom. I think that we reached a point where the state legislature had to do something to address cell phones in the classroom," Edwards said. "I think it's going to be a benefit to the students. I think it can help clear some hurdles out of their way between them and learning in the classroom."

"I think that they eventually can regain that ability to focus for a much longer period of time. So I think at the beginning it's very, very hard for them," Livengood said.

One argument that opponents have voiced is in a world where serious, potentially dangerous situations are unfortunately more common at schools than before, many parents have raised concerns about needing the ability to check in with their kids in real time.

Edwards is also a parent of a high school student, and sees both sides of the ban.

"If a student in a parent need to communicate with each other throughout the day, there are a lot of avenues for them to do that outside of cell phone use in the law also carves out spaces for in cases of emergencies, students are still allowed to use their phones," Edwards said. "My wife and I are both teachers, and I think we always take the side that our students are well protected as they are. We're trusting adults. They're with people who have their best interests in mind, and so in our opinion, um, it's easy for us to go a few hours without talking to them or the entire school day without talking to them, because I know that they are in the right place."

Livengood says the change, in theory, would also reduce cyberbullying during school hours.

"I would think so. I think we should see some decrease in that, especially during the school day. They shouldn't have any way to do that if they're following the law and doing that in good faith, we should see a reduction of that," Livengood said.

Sharika Biswas is a student at Nixa High School.

She tends to lean towards the ban as a good idea, but doesn't think the state needed to make it a law, but rather let every district make its own policy.

"I think the statewide level is extreme. At some point, I think schools really need to see how their school is doing itself and like what they need to fix," Biswas said. "I feel like there's both pros and cons to this new rule. I think it definitely can be beneficial to be more focused in the classroom because even like some teachers don't care. Some people just like flip through their phones, it does get very distracting during the class period, and it would be better to like, connect with our peers. One of the cons, I think it's just like during emergency purposes, it's kind of hard to contact parents."

She does say it'll take time to adjust, especially since students are returning from summer, likely spending every moment on their phones.

"I think it's definitely a big change and something that will take adjusting to this," Biswas said.

Biswas agrees with Livengood that the ban could reduce bullying in school.

"I definitely do think it will. There's a lot of things that do get posted even during school hours, like taking pictures of other students and in the school. I think this is a great way to break that down," Biswas said. "[Put] a lot more focus on seeing each other face to face and like in like, interactions with each other rather than interacting over the phones on social media because of that."

OzarksFirst reached out to over a dozen schools for their plans when it comes to the cell phone policy.

Nixa's first day of school is August 19.