Dear New Jersey Department of Education,

Just this year, there was a rule implemented that bans the use of phones inside of school. While there are some obvious advantages for banning phones in the classroom, they are far outweighed by the disadvantages. These disadvantages are why the phone ban should be lifted, or at least changed.

The three main reasons students should be allowed to have a phone in the classroom are online tools for learning, connecting with people, and safety reasons. Graduate Program, a professional organization for teachers,  says that “Integrating cellphones thoughtfully can be a real win when it comes to prepping our students for the real world.”

This is true as phones are definitely not going anywhere, and integrating them into lessons or using them as a tool for people who have trouble learning would be beneficial in the classroom. Learning to use your phone as a tool instead of a distraction can be a useful life skill that can help people later in life, and it is a skill that cannot be learned with how it is right now.

While texting with someone during class is a distraction, communicating with other people with your phone during a period like lunch or study hall is not harmful to anyone. Especially for new students who don’t have anyone to sit with or talk to during lunch, being able to text their friends can stop them from feeling lonely during lunch, instead of just having to sit alone doing nothing.

There is also the obvious benefit to safety by having easy access to your phone in school. If a student does not feel safe or they feel ill, they can contact their parents without having to go through either their counselor or the school nurse. This is also helpful in emergencies, where there might not be a way to get help without being able to contact someone on your phone.

On top of all of this, there is also the point that the phone ban is not really doing anything helpful. Sure it might make it so people don’t text during class, but with or without the phone ban for the majority of the school day they have an ipad or other school electronic device readily available to them. According to a New York Times article “Eighty-one percent of elementary teachers across the United States who were surveyed by the New York Times in October said that at their schools, students receive devices in class by kindergarten.”

If students are getting access to devices where they can do most of the same things that phones can in kindergarten, just banning phones is not going to solve anything. I believe that the ban has good intentions behind it, like increasing attention and focus in the classroom. However, if during that ban students can still easily access youtube, games, or any other distraction that was the original reason for the ban, it is a pointless annoyance that only serves to worsen a students enjoyment of school.

Sincerely,

Peter Kas

Washington, Benjamin. “Cellphones in the Classroom: Should It Be Allowed?” Graduate Programs. 16 March 2026.

Mader, Jackie. “iPads in Kindergarten, YouTube on Breaks: The School Screen-Time Battle” New York Times. March 16 2026.