State Sen. John Velis
Reminder Publishing file photo
WESTFIELD — The Massachusetts State Senate has recently passed legislation aimed at limiting students’ access to personal electronic devices, including cell phones, during the entire school day with the final legislation being influenced by several similar policies introduced by senators this session, including a bill introduced by state Sen. John Velis.
Through careful work alongside subject knowledge experts, the Westfield Democrat has received praise for his instrumental work in strengthening the final policy now passed by the Senate. The initial statement released by Velis after this legislation’s passing in the Senate summed up why this issue has become so important for him and his efforts to combat the issue.
“We have a serious five-alarm fire on our hands. Our kids are distracted from their education, their social development is being hindered and they are struggling with their mental health like we’ve never seen before. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when you look at data related to lower academic scores or increasing diagnosis of anxiety, that the trends drastically changed for the worse right around 2012, when smart phones become widely accessible,” said Velis.
He continued, “When you bring up the idea of limiting a kid’s access to their cell phone, they are usually incredibly defensive and outraged, and in many respects, their reaction doesn’t look that much different from telling someone in the throes of addiction that they are being sent to rehab. The very least we can do for their well-being and to support our incredible educators is restrict the use of cellphones during school hours.”
The legislation, S2561 An Act To Promote Student Learning and Mental Health, would require local districts to develop policies that prohibits access and possession of personal electronic devices during school hours by the 2026-27 school year. Velis told Reminder Publishing that as chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery, he has spent a lot of time with school districts and has found through speaking with teachers and staff common negative trends stemming from cell phone usage and the lack of a clear and consistent policy.
“One of the things that I was taken aback by, is that I represent everything from rural communities to urban areas and everything in between. There was a consistency from what kids in schools were telling me, is that cell phones are having a profound, disruptive impact on learning in schools. We have data that tells us now in an irrefutable way, that schools that had no cell phone policy and had implemented a cell phone policy, that academic performance went up. The data is irrefutable,” said Velis.
Velis added, on top of that, the disruptions throughout the school days due to cell phones also have an impact on social development.
“As a parent, and then as a lawmaker and as a person, I’m shocked by how you can literally walk into a room today, be surrounded by human beings, and instead of doing what human beings should do — talk to each other, laugh with each other, do all that stuff — people are glued to their phones,” Velis said. “People are going to do what they’re going to do, I can’t control people’s lives. I can only do what I do and try and set an example. But one of the things that’s happening is that our kids and their ability to carry on socially, their social development, is being stunted by constantly looking at these phones and these algorithms and social media, to the point where they’re not communicating as much. That is an issue. That is a workforce development issue.”
The third key issue Velis said he had identified was that simply there is now too much irrefutable evidence showing the negative impact of cell phones and social media to children when it comes to mental health.
“We have a five-alarm fire with mental health and anybody who disputes that does not know what they are talking about,” Velis said. “I go into these schools, and I talk to these kids and I see that throughout the state there are all these inconsistent policies and quite frankly, only some of them were working. I also talked to teachers who say look, my main job now is being a phone cop. How about the fundamental notion that you’re in school, you should be paying attention and you’re just on your phone.”
The legislation ensures that districts receive support and guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and also provides exceptions for students with IEPs. The legislation also requires that school policies ensure parents and students can contact one another if requested during the school day.
“Now obviously, obviously, one of the things that’s part of this bill is that we are requiring districts to come up with a policy if mom or dad or guardian needs to get them, or kid needs to get mom or dad or guardian, obviously that needs to be the case,” Velis said. “Obviously, the bill allows that. Obviously, if you are in an IEP or a 504 plan. Obviously, if you have an accommodation. Just to be very clear, the bill gives the districts the flexibility to deal with their student population.”
Velis added that when it comes to the best options in creating a better policy for schools to combat phone use, the data has shown too often a policy has been limited to a teacher just being “phone police” and telling students to put them away. He added things like “phone caddy’s,” a central location in the classroom where students place their phones after entering class, have also been found to be ineffective as often once students are reunited with their cellular devices they are using them for a bulk of the time they spend in between classes.
Velis said policy involving Yondr pouches has seen some positive data in eliminating distractions, but added, students can still get creative with them and can become distracted as the phone remains on inside the pouch. He shared that the best approach in combating these issues is simply full separation from phones.
“Ninety percent of kids in [Massachusetts] go to our public schools. It is the only place we have an opportunity to impact this and push back this. And I would argue to any naysayers that the cumulative effect of the decline in academic performance, the decline, the stunting of social development and the irrefutable demonstrable devastating impacts this is having on our kids’ mental health surpasses any of the reasons not to do this,” said Velis. “Teachers have told me, students have told me, if you’re going to do this, actual physical separation is the most effective. Without a doubt — the evidence tells us, schools tell us — that the best policy is physical separation from the phone. Get it away from them and allow them to be kids.”
Velis was credited for his role in this legislation’s passing from subject knowledge experts who he worked alongside in learning the best options in forming a consistent cell phone policy in the state.
“We are so grateful for Senator Velis’s leadership, and we commend Senator Velis, the Senate Ways and Means Committee and the hardworking staff of the Senate for making a bell-to-bell policy work for the commonwealth’s students, teachers and families,” said Casey Mock, senior director of Policy for The Anxious Generation. “We look forward to Massachusetts joining 19 other states in adopting a strong statewide policy.”
Debra Mann Schmill, president of Becca Schmill Foundation added, “The passage of this bill means that every Massachusetts public school student will get the enormous benefit of a six-to-seven hour break, each school day, from cellphones and other personal electronic devices. This is a huge victory for students’ mental health, focus and real-world connection. It is also a huge victory for teachers and school administrators. I cannot thank Senator Velis enough, for first working with the Becca Schmill Foundation on one of the 13 bills introduced this session on this topic, but also for fighting so hard to make sure that the bill that did pass would be most beneficial for Massachusetts students.”
With the legislation having been passed by the Senate, it now goes to the House of Representatives for their consideration.
