Nearly one year after a phone ban was implemented in Oklahoma public schools, a permanent bell-to-bell phone ban was signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt and legislators. Norman Public Schools students and faculty are reflecting on the impact of the ban.
‘You’re more free to just engage with other people’
Greg Williams, Norman North High School graduate, said the ban has made it easier to connect with his peers.
“You’re more free to just engage with other people," Williams said.
However, Williams said there were some challenges organizing the school’s weeklong fundraising event — SPUD, or “students performing unselfish deeds” — without access to cellphones.
“We had to make calls to get potential sponsors or businesses to come to an event, and so that was hard because we had to use other phones, which originally were limited, but (administrators) helped us find ways around that,” Williams said.
Williams said initially his peers were against the ban, but were more accepting as they realized it would enhance their high school experience.
“It actually makes it better, and I think that people accepted it, and I think a lot of people would say they like it better this way as well,” said Williams.
‘There needs to be alterations’
Scarlet Joseph McIntosh, Norman High School senior, said the ban has improved her attention span and helped her get work done during the school day rather than waiting until she gets home. Despite the benefits, she said the ban has had a negative impact on her ability to communicate with family and friends during school hours.
“My mom is trying to contact me with outside alerts, like if she needs to ask me a question or something, I can’t contact her, and I've seen that with my friends as well,” Joseph McIntosh said.
Despite the ban, Joseph McIntosh said students sneak phones out to communicate with friends or make plans.
“I’ve had a lot of friends complain where they’re having to sneak (their phone) out if they want to show me something, like a photo, they need to text me, contact me, see what our lunch plans are, because you don’t want to be late,” Joseph McIntosh said.
Joseph McIntosh said the policy could hurt teachers who have to enforce the ban by interrupting instruction time, but said students have been receptive to requests to put phones away.
If a student has their phone confiscated three times, they’re given lunch detention, according to Joseph McIntosh.
“That can suck, because what if that student was just trying to text their mom for an emergency if something happened?” Joseph McIntosh said.
Norman Public Schools’ personal electronic devices policy reads, “Students found to be in possession of or using a personal electronic device in violation of the rules shall be subject to disciplinary action under the student discipline policy. Punishment for violation will be determined by the administration on a case-by-case basis.”
Joseph McIntosh said there should be times when students are allowed to use their phones throughout the day.
“I definitely think that there needs to be alterations with when people are allowed to go on their phone,” Joseph McIntosh said. “Like during passing period, I think that it should be fine. However, like class, I can see it still being the phone ban, like not going on your phone during class.”
‘One less thing for teachers to have to try to manage’
Alcott Middle School Principal Traci Kay said she has noticed a difference in student engagement since the ban was put in place.
“Kids are engaging with one another. They’re engaging with their content that they’re working on and I think the best thing for it has been one less thing for teachers to have to try to manage,” Kay said.
At Alcott Middle School, students can keep phones in their backpacks, and YONDR pouches are used for phone confiscation. The pouches allow users to keep their phones in their possession, but it is locked until an administrator unlocks it. Kay estimated the school confiscates about 10 phones a day.
The growing trend in support of a phone ban comes as 28 states and the District of Columbia now have a bell-to-bell phone ban. Currently, eight states have bans on phones during instruction time and two other states passed laws with unspecified ban policies.
Kay said parents have been more at ease knowing students’ phones are kept in their backpacks.
“Parents worry about those emergency situations, which we know that unfortunately they happen. I think for us, it’s given parents a little bit of ease, just to know, ‘Hey, they have their phone in their backpack with them all day. If there’s an emergency, they can get it out and contact you,’” Kay said.
Kay supports the new permanent ban bill because it gives each individual school district the autonomy to determine how to enforce the policy to best serve its community and patrons.
State legislators
Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, a former teacher who serves on the Oklahoma House of Representatives Committee on Common Education, said the law has worked well so far and he is in favor of a permanent ban.
“With a statewide law, the administrators can be like, ‘Hey, it’s a state law. We’re just following state law,’ and it’s worked out really, really well,” Rosecrants said.
Rosecrants said he doesn’t believe in bans, and in an ideal world, parents would teach students to handle the responsibility of having a cellphone. Despite that, he still supports a phone ban.
“Even though I’ve taught my kids responsibility with their cellphone, not every parent is going to do that. Not every guardian is going to do that. That’s why I think that this bill is needed once again,” Rosecrants said.
Rosecrants said some of his constituents raised concerns about what parents would do if gun violence occurred in a school.
“This [gun violence] has always been something that has happened in the past, before cell phones, and we’re trying to tell people that the police are still going to be (accessible).” Rosecrants said.
Rep. Chad Caldwell, an author of the phone ban bill, also raised concerns about the increasing screen time in schools.
“We understand that by getting cell phones out, that’s just one screen in the classroom. But if the kid spends seven hours a day while they’re in school, sitting in front of a laptop, I don’t know that that’s necessarily the best thing for them either,” Caldwell said.
Permanent ban
Senate Bill 139 was passed May 2025, requiring public school districts to establish a bell-to-bell phone ban for the 2025-26 school year. The bill allowed school districts to choose whether or not to continue the ban in the following years.
House Bill 1276, which amended the original bill to require a permanent phone ban at Oklahoma public schools, was signed by Gov. Stitt in late April.
Caldwell said most of the feedback he has received about the bill has been positive, and superintendents and legislators who had previously opposed the bill are now in support of a long-term ban.
This story was edited by Natalie Armour, Madisson Cameron, Audrey McClour and Reagan Rozzi. Parker Newman, Kennedy Johnson and Tori Pham copy edited this story.
