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Parents and community press Tacoma board for bell‑to‑bell cell‑phone ban as some schools pilot local plans
Summary
Multiple public commenters and a parent survey urged the Tacoma School District board to adopt a bell‑to‑bell no‑phone policy; the superintendent said most secondary schools already have local plans and legal counsel flagged potential liability when staff confiscate phones without proper care.
Multiple parents, students and community members urged the Tacoma School District Board of Directors to adopt a districtwide bell‑to‑bell cell‑phone ban, citing student anxiety, attention problems and social harms.
Speakers at the public‑comment period described a grassroots push at Hunt Middle School and other campuses. Jarrett Austin, a parent who participated in a book club there, summarized arguments drawn from Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation and said, "The harm greatly outweighs the benefit." Jennifer Arnold summarized a…
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