Students entered the 2025-2026 school year under one of the biggest policy changes in the history of Leesville Road High School: the cellphone ban. However, as the school year has progressed, has the ban truly held onto what it was chalked up to be?

The policy was, and still is, controversial among students.  Phones and social media have become an extremely integral part of teenage life.  They have been utilized at school for years, both as a form of communication and simply to alleviate boredom.  

The county-wide phone policy is a local interpretation of the North Carolina House Bill 959, which passed in July.  The bill requires all students to have their electronic devices stowed away during instructional time; however, the bill does not legally enforce counties to have a policy until January 1.

The local policy went into effect at the start of the school year and follows the same guidelines as the bill itself.  However, many students have noted how enforcement has slipped through the cracks over the past couple of months. 

Teachers have tried their best to uphold enforcement, yet they all approach it differently.  Some teachers have a strict no phones until the bell rings policy as mandated by the school system.  

Others have been more lenient, allowing students to listen to music or scroll through their phones once their classwork is completed.  Some students claim that teachers have outright given up on enforcing the policy in class due to a lack of student care.  “I don’t think the teachers are really failing (to enforce the policy), it’s more or less just the kids that don’t really care enough,” said Ryan Pascoe, a Junior. 

Although enforcement has somewhat fallen through regarding the county policy, the state law may change things.  Teachers will now have an extra support to lean on when telling students to pack up their phones, as the state policy mandates devices to be turned off completely during instructional periods.  

“I think I like the policy because it’s giving me more authority as a teacher. I feel like I have support behind me when asking a student to put away their phone,” said Ashley Tabron, a teacher.  

The conversation of whether personal devices should have their own place in the classroom has been a years-long debate.  Lawmakers and administrators cite how distracting cellphone usage is in classrooms.

Most students don’t disagree with that claim; yet they do call for more flexibility with policies, such as for communication with parents and for use during class time.  “They haven’t really been flexible, especially in the need of emergency, or whenever you may need a ride home or food,” said Daniel Biagi, a Sophomore.

As of September 2025, 20 states have implemented a ban on cellphones in school on a state level.

Whether the policy has truly been “successful” over the past few months is purely up to who you ask.  It is, however, undeniable that enforcement has escalated throughout this past school year, and even more change is to come as the state law is enacted.