FUHSD has officially implemented a district-wide “off and away” cell phone policy with the start of the 2025-2026 school year. This change comes after Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3216 in 2024 — also known as the Phone-Free School Act — which calls on school districts to reduce or limit student access to cell phones during instruction time. Proponents of the bill argued that reduced phone usage will improve students’ mental health, reduce cyberbullying and increase test scores.
Superintendent Graham Clark hopes these new regulations will help enhance student learning and productivity, especially in light of recent instances of academic dishonesty. When it came to planning how to implement “off and away,” Clark consulted various sources.
“The new law allows schools to make the rules about cell phones,” Clark said. “It doesn’t tell you what to do, but gives you that permission. We looked at what staff are doing and what we thought were the best practices. We were checking with our community and seeing what they thought was appropriate and also saw what other districts are doing in the area.”
As teachers must now decide how to regulate “off and away” policies in their classrooms, Principal Ben Clausnitzer believes that having little access to cell phones will be beneficial, and is needed, for students. For example, Clausnitzer hopes that the student body and their teachers will feel more connected and engaged in learning within the classroom without the potential distractions presented by phone usage.
“Students walk into a classroom at the start of the day or start a class, they put their cell phone in the caddy, they engage in instruction — at the end of the class period, they go and they get their cell phone,” Clausnitzer said. “Some teachers may not use a caddy, and they’ll just ask that it’s off and away in a backpack. Each teacher is going to have what it means to them in terms of ‘off and away,’ but I think it’ll probably be more common than it was in the past to see phone caddies.”
Although AP Environmental Science teacher Ken Gan has ordered a cell phone caddy for the school year, he does not expect the new policy to cause major changes in his classes.
“I want to at least try and give my students that trust, when you are a young adult,” Gan said. “You should know when the use of a phone is appropriate, when it is not.”
Meanwhile, the reaction among students has been diverse, according to senior Alicia Xie. Xie herself, having used “phone jails” before in past classes, was not surprised to hear about the new policy.
“I thought I would hate it more, but I think it’s really benefiting my productivity and my focus in class,” Xie said. “Before the phone ban was started, my friends and I were able to communicate during class, and when we had downtime, at least one other person would be online to text, to just entertain each other during the school day. Now, not as much — you’re forced to actually get to know the people around you, physically in your class.”
Contrary to Xie, senior Chloe Chang was unhappy with the implementation of “off and away.” Prior to the new policy, Chang used her cell phone in class for entertainment when she was finished with assignments, or to help search up words she was unfamiliar with. Although Chang has noticed increased productivity and decreased screen time since the start of the school year, she attributes her dissatisfaction with the bill to her and her classmates’ connection to their cell phones.
“I felt like it was my right to have my devices on me — a lot of us are so attached to our devices that we just don’t like the thought of having them taken away,” Chang said. “I also think it’s a bit inconvenient still, since there was a lot of usage that I relied on my device for that was school-related.”
Clark understands that various families and administrations have differing opinions on the necessity of phone restrictions in class. Specifically, Clark states that parents may want to communicate with their children during class times, which is made difficult in some classes by the “off and away” policy. However, Assembly Bill 3216 permits students with medical emergencies, special education plans or under specific teacher instruction to access their cell phones during class time. Clark reiterates that FUHSD’s main goal is to teach students healthy and balanced cell phone usage.
“There’s always been a difference in opinion on what authority schools have with regard to cell phones, and I think some schools regulate them harder than others,” Clark said. “Some parents feel differently about phones and want their child to have their phone all the time so they can text back no matter what. As an educational institution, our main thing is we need to help students learn the norms of how to use it responsibly.”
However, Gan alludes to a possible shortcoming with the policy, as schools are unable to regulate how students’ phone usage affects their academic learning at home.
“I’m a true believer that you should [learn the “off and away” policy] right now, just like how you go on later in a job, you’ll be asked to do projects and things in a timely manner,” Gan said. “But then again, you go home, you get your phone back. So how is that any different? You just stay up a little later than normal with your phone.”
Despite its possible shortcomings, many students on campus have positively reacted to the new policy. While Xie posits that these rules may push students to find ways around them, such as by placing “burner” phones in caddies to keep their phones on them during class, she believes that her peers have been receptive to the “off and away” policy.
“Some people use old phones or calculators and put them in the phone jails. But so far this year, I really haven’t seen anything like that,” Xie said. “I think most people are cooperating with the phone bans, because I feel most people get that it’s to their benefit to put their phones away, as to people who might actually circumvent it, I think it would definitely harm its effectiveness, but also, if you’re the only one on your phone, what are you going to do?”
Clark and Clausnitzer agree that results like what Xie has experienced in the first few days of school are at the core of what the “off and away” policy is about. In the long run, both hope that students will be able to learn key skills in self-discipline and push their focus to productive learning and personal connection, even if they have access to cell phones outside of class.
“I think it’s a good step for people to have some concentrated time, at least during their class periods — this would be 90 minutes where they could put that distraction away,” Clark said. “There’s time to set the phone aside.”
