The Republican Bill would ban mobile phones during school time in Wisconsin classrooms – Daily Cardinal

Wisconsin’s legislators discussed Republicans supported Bill This would require school councils to adopt policies restricting the use of wireless communication devices during the school time of public hearing on Tuesday.

The authors of the bill, reporter Joel Kitchons, R-Sturgeon Bay and Senator Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-APPLETON, spoke in support of the bill, expressing concerns about the impact of technology during the classes and mental health of students. They stressed that the bill focuses on implementation.

“This is not something we do in the school districts,” Kitchons said. “This is something we do with them.”

Many Wisconsin school districts already have policies restricting the use of the phone, with the kitchens noting that at a recent meeting of the Educational Service Agency 7, all attendees have indicated that they have telephone policies. Data Since the Ministry of Public Instructions in Wisconsin and Digital Training Survey They find that 90% of school districts have policies to limit the use of the phone.

“They all have policies, but if you look at the application, it’s not there. What we do here is to provide coverage for these areas, “Kitchons said. “So when the parents come to the boss and say,” I think my child needs their mobile phone, “they can say,” I’m sorry, the state law says we can’t have it in the classroom, “so that we “provide a backup for this. “

Cabral-Gevara referred to a study by Media Sense, which found that this found that 97% of students Use your phones during school hours. She and the kitchens claim that excessive screen time contributes Of reducing mental health, noting that “suicide among young girls has almost tripled” after the rise of smartphones and social media in 2010.

Sarah Knuw, an adviser on the initiative of DPI policy, quoted studies Connecting the use of the phone with cyberbullying, as well as feelings of social isolation and anxiety.

“Schools have implemented prohibitions on mobile phones during school time – they report a decline in harassment and improvement of students’ commitment and behavior,” Knuev said. “This suggests that the restrictions applied by the area can provide an inclusive and supportive atmosphere, which gives priority to students’ well -being.”

Cabral-Gevara said that teachers need more support and these reinforcements will “take the stress of teachers to tell these students:” Listen, I have to take it. We need to strengthen this. ”

Under proposalSchool districts would have the flexibility of developing their own policies while receiving state support for implementation.

The kitchens assured that the application would not come with additional costs. If a teacher encounters a problem using a phone, it will depend on the area to determine the next steps, according to Kitchens.

“The areas are free to restrict the use of the phone beyond what is required in the account, and we hope that many of them will choose to ban them during lunch and throughout the school day,” Kitts said. “There were some concerns about this, so we made a correction to make it completely clear.”