Oregon School Cell Phone Ban: 'Engaged Students, Joyful Teachers' (portlandtribune.com)
- Reference: 0181062114
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/03/20/1725229/oregon-school-cell-phone-ban-engaged-students-joyful-teachers
- Source link: https://portlandtribune.com/2026/03/18/oregon-school-cell-phone-ban-engaged-students-joyful-teachers/
> There was plenty of uncertainty and debate about the effectiveness of a cell phone ban [1]decreed (PDF) by executive order last summer. But at least in Estacada, the policy has [2]earned two thumbs up, including approval from a "grumpy old teacher ." Jeff Mellema is a language arts teacher at Estacada High School. He has worked in the building for 24 years, and he said the new policy that prohibits students from using their phones during the day has been a breath of fresh air.
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> "There is so much better discourse in my classroom, be it personal or academic," Mellema said. "Students can't avoid those conversations anymore with their phones." "This ban has brought joy back to this old, grumpy teacher," he added with a smile. That is the kind of feedback Gov. Tina Kotek was hoping for as she visited Estacada High School on Wednesday afternoon, March 18. Her goal was to visit classrooms, speak with administrators, and meet with students one-on-one to hear about the effectiveness of her phone policy. [...] In the classrooms, she was able to take a straw poll around the cell phone ban and then get specific, direct feedback from the kids. Overall, it was positive.
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> The Rangers said they noticed changes in how they interact with teachers and peers. They don't feel that "siren's song" tug of their phones as often, and the changes are bleeding into everyday life as well -- think less reminders to put phones away during family dinners. Phones also led to issues around bullying and online toxicity during the school day. There are some hiccups. The students spoke about difficulties in tracking busy schedules. Many athletes relied on their phones for practice times and locations. Some advanced placement kids said the overzealous programs monitoring school laptops blocked access to needed resources for studying/researching schoolwork. There is even a strange quirk with school-provided tech that prevents them from accessing their calculators. "Maybe the filters are too strong right now," Gov. Kotek said. "That is why we are working with the districts to best implement the policy."
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> The kids also weighed in on the debate around the extent of the ban. The two options bandied in Salem were a "bell-to-bell" policy or just inside classrooms. The latter would allow kids to use their phones during passing period and lunch. Several advocated for that change. That mirrored the debate within the Oregon legislature. It ultimately led to a stalemate and the need for Gov. Kotek's executive ruling. "When you make a decision like this, you don't know how it will ultimately work," Kotek told the students. "I appreciate you adapting to the situation and making it work for you." While things could change in the future, the governor is pleased with the early results. The phone ban is here to stay.
[1] https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/teachingcontent/Documents/eo-25-09.pdf
[2] https://portlandtribune.com/2026/03/18/oregon-school-cell-phone-ban-engaged-students-joyful-teachers/
Are they not old enough to remember...? (Score:1)
Are the lawmakers and rule makers for the schools NOT old enough to remember BEFORE cell phones when we went to school....?
Can they not remember that we did JUST FINE without a fscking smart phone in our faces 24/7...?
This may just be mind blowing, but we didn't have ANY phones at all except pay phones or what was hard wired landline at homes....
And amazingly enough, we grew up just fine..actually now how to meet and talk to each other in person, etc....
Of course this was also before social media....but
Re: (Score:3)
My high school had a smoking area -although it was restricted to Seniors only. And you could leave for lunch and go downtown to the shops. And there was a student parking lot. Hell, when I was in grade school, the local high school had both a pistol and rifle range...
Pepperidge Farm Remembers!
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That's exactly like my HS (graduated in 95).
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When my wife was in school, the student parking lot was filled with pickups, which were themselves filled with gun racks, which were filled with... can you guess?
No shootings occurred.
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Bet you also remember if you failed to bring your own pen-knife to wood-working shop the instructor would make you walk home to get it ! I think you would get arrested now for terrorist behavior.
Re:Are they not old enough to remember...? (Score:5, Insightful)
We grew up better without them, and some of the kids recognize that (here in Europe we've had similar experimental bans as well). When asked, one notable point some kids made was that they felt more carefree, secure in knowing that an embarrassing misstep or misspoken word is not going to be filmed to haunt you for the rest of the year.
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Yeah, the idea that my parents would ever need to interrupt a class to contact me directly would have been dismissed out of hand by everyone involved when I was in school. It isn't necessary. That's why the school has its own phones - parents call the school, not the student. There's nothing so urgent that the child has to be called directly. Examples of things I was notified of in class include my mom setting the backyard on fire and my grandmother dying. Calling me directly about either would not hav
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But teen pregnancy is way down! Of course, so is our birth rate, which at it's current level isn't enough to replace ourselves. What interesting times we live in. So glad I got to grow up in the 80s/90s before cellphones.
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Inflammatory yet unfalsifiably vague. Well done!
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Excuse me? Unlike some states, you're free to insult Trump all you want here. Or, you know, get an abortion.
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Move over to Idaho then, snowflake.
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I'm sorry, where in the Constitution does it guarantee a right to carry your smartphone in all places, at all times?
The closest I see is the 10th Amendment where that kind of thing is left to the States, and this is a State exercising that right.
It's good you posted this AC, because it just might be one of the stupidest things I've ever read on Slashdot, and that's some mighty stiff competition.
Good job (Score:2)
That's awesome should have been done sooner.
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Why? In the incredibly unlikely event of an emergency, the school already has a system for contacting parents. Should there be a family emergency, parents call the school, they don't get to interrupt an entire class.
Any communication between a student in school and the outside world is almost certainly unnecessary and absolutely disruptive. The risk/reward calculation comes out "no phones in school" every time I run it. There are only a handful of cases where a student would need one, and they are to
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If it's a true emergency, there is zilch you can do about it anyway. You aren't law enforcement, EMTs or a doctor, right? So what exactly would you do, besides get in the way of the adults that actually could do something.
\o/ (Score:1)
This is UNAMERICAN - how are our home-grown tech companies supposed to monetise the lives of the students if they're offline?
* Think of the shareholders! *
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You are going to have to legally justify that. Having a phone in your possession is not a 1st amendment concern. Anyone can still say whatever they like, and can even say what they like about the phone restriction.
There might be a very suspect outside argument about illegal seizure, but that is solved by putting up a sign on the door and sending home a mailer to parents about the policy change.
The only other Constitutional argument here is in favor of the State of Oregon doing this: the 10th Amendment. N
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Nope, you are free to use your mouth and speak away. They can go back to passing notes in class. Much like driving, a cellphone is a privilege, not a right.
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Remember the good ol' days, when you could watch online porn in class?
Re: \o/ (Score:1)
No but there's probably porn of shareholders getting what they deserve instead of feeding the the world to feed their greed.
Re: \o/ (Score:1)
Preview on mobile !== bad
Re: \o/ (Score:1)
No but there's probably porn of shareholders getting what they deserve instead of destroying the world to feed their greed.
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When I was in class, it was 14.4 dialup. So, no.
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You do make a valid point. At least from the position of business, which in America, is the only position we recognize anyway.
easy thing to measure (Score:1)
If grades improve. Just because the old guy is happy doesn't mean you'll get better outcomes.
Consider the source (Score:1)
Pamplin Media Group is a right-wing extremist propaganda outlet. They also own KPAM, one of the region's 24-hour hate speech radio stations. I have serious doubts as to the veracity of anything in this article as a result.
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So you're making the old, "it must be hate speech because I disagree with it", argument. Well, I'm so glad you let everyone know about that.
You're also wrong. The Portland Tribune is owned by the Carpenter Media Group. There's even a story on the first page about Robert Pamplin Jr. being in a bit of a pickle.
Oh, I was supposed to get pickles.
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Hang on.
So you're saying a right-wing extremist propaganda outlet is singing the praises of a left-wing lesbian governor of an incredibly blue state?
And you have doubts about it, when they are defying the very bias that you're proscribing onto them?
What the fuck are you even on about?
Excellent (Score:1)
Long overdue, but better late than never :)
I still remember how bizarre it was, for society to go so quickly from "the family computer should be in plain view in the living room, duh" to "oh sure, every kid should have a pocket internet connected computer with camera and microphone, why not!"
Mor like enraged students (Score:2)
But what can the do about it other than suck it up.
cucking for ChatGPT (Score:2)
It's hard for me personally to imagine anyone who believes that kids having ready cell phone access contributes to their educational success, but I'm sure they're out there. And on here!
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I think that some people believe that any kind of technology will help, in much the same way that tablets, laptops, and computers before them were introduced to early education in the hopes that they would improve outcomes. Even there thereby results have been dubious or generally non-existent. All of those things are merely tools, and while it would benefit someone to learn how to use a computer for a number of jobs, there's little specialized need requiring students to need to learn how to use a smartphon
Re:cucking for ChatGPT (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's the thing I can't help but notice and be bothered by - We rolled out tablets and chrome books to schools fast . Huge drive, lots of donations, lots of taxes, lots of computers distributed because, well, of course they will help make kids smarter. Never did anyone stop and say, "hey, this is kind of an experiment. Maybe we shouldn't put everyone in the experimental group all at the same time. Maybe we should try giving kids laptops in just some places and see how it goes for 5-10 years before changing every school?" But of course educators, who include science teachers, are really f-ing bad at experiments. They're really good with fads though.
Will the drive to undo that mistake go as quickly? I doubt it, but time will tell. Will we remove cell phones from schools as quickly as we replaced the books with cheap computers? Maybe we'll luck out.
The results of removing cell phones from Jr High here in Georgia has gone so well that they're expanding the law to include High Schools.
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I agree with your post overall though I imagine someone DID say something but money was just so important. Google and Microsoft "giving" stuff away for free just enabled vendor lock in. Instead of teaching kids about computing, they taught them very specific applications, such MS Office.
I'm glad to see this ban is working out. I think it's a great idea.