Twiggs County Public Schools ban cell phones in the classroom, in compliance with new GA law

Twiggs County Public Schools has officially banned cell phones for students grades K-12, in compliance with new state legislature requiring students not have access to personal electronics during class.

Georgia House Bill 340, also known as the “Distraction-Free Education Act” signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp last year, requires public elementary and middle schools across the state to ban cell phone use inside K-8 classrooms.

In May, Governor Kemp signed a second bill, House Bill 1009, expanding that cell phone ban to include high school students.

HB 340 officially went into effect in July, meaning students K-8 are now officially banned from using their phones from the first bell to final bell.

HB 1009 requires high schools to have similar cell phone policies in place by January 2027.

“[O]ur classrooms must be safe learning environments that serve as launching pads for success in the workforce,” Kemp said. “The bills I signed today implement proven strategies to improve literacy and math scores, reduce distractions in the classroom, expand pathways to graduation, and further support hardworking educators and families.”

Last month, school principals at the elementary and middle-high schools announced changes to student handbooks in compliance with the new laws, including a new cell phone policy as well as the consequences for students found breaking it.

Twiggs County Middle-High School principal Antonio Ingram said students will be required to turn their phones in at the beginning of each school day and won’t get them back until the end of the school day. Phones will go inside a manilla folder at the beginning of each morning and be left in the care of school administrators until the final bell.

According to Ingram, around 15-20 minutes before the end of last period, an administrator will go around classrooms redistributing phones to teachers, who will then return them to their students on their way out of the door.

The handbook also details consequences for students found breaking the new policy.

The first time a student at the middle-high school is found with their phone during school hours, an administrator will confiscate the device and contact the student’s parents.

For second-time offenders, students will have their phone confiscated, their parents called and they will receive anywhere between one to three days of in-school suspension.

Third time offenders will receive three to five days of in-school suspension, and fourth time offenders will receive anywhere between three and five days of out-of-school suspension.

Though the new policy doesn’t officially go into effect for high schoolers until January, students grades 9-12 will also abide by the new school policy and the consequences for breaking it, only they will be permitted to use their phones during their lunch period and in the mornings before their first period.

According to Ingram, the new policy does not apply to after school activities, and students will be allowed to use their phones during after school sporting and band practices.

Jeffersonville Elementary School principal Mark Davis, on the other hand, told the board of education that cell phone usage is entirely banned on the JES campus, calling the use of phones on campus a “major distraction within our building.”

While K-2 students aren’t allowed to bring a cellphone to school at all, students grades 3-5 will be required to check in their phones to a special location within the classroom.

Students who neglect to check in their phone will be given a warning on the first offense and on the second, they’ll immediately be assigned in-school suspension.

Parents will also be required to pick up their child’s phone on the second offense.

According to Davis, if a student continues to break the rule, they’ll receive out-of-school suspension as well.

In addition to the new cell phone policy, administrators say they’re also cracking down on vaping, bullying, fighting and the dress code in Twiggs County schools.

According to Interim Superintendent Tyrone Bacon, students will be given hard copies of the new handbook, and parents will be required to sign it, acknowledging the new policies, and return it to school with their child. In previous years, only digital copies were made available for students and parents. Now the district is making a point to send home physical copies.

Students returned to school on Monday, and the new policies addressed in the handbook are already in effect.