Forsyth County Schools staff recommends extending 'bell-to-bell' phone limits to high schools; board to draft policy after public forum

Forsyth County Schools staff presented research and community feedback at a public forum and recommended the Board of Education draft a policy to extend a “bell-to-bell” restriction on personal electronic devices into the high school grades, officials said. Staff asked the board to give direction to develop formal policies and procedures for the 2025–26 school year; the board directed staff to proceed with a drafting and engagement timeline that includes a presentation at the May board meeting and a final decision in June.

The recommendation follows state-level movement on the issue and local data staff presented showing rising student mental-health referrals and discipline incidents linked to phone use. Staff cited House Bill 340, described in the presentation as the “Distraction Free Education Act,” which, if signed by the governor, would require local systems to enact bell-to-bell limits for kindergarten through eighth grade; the district is considering whether and how to expand the same approach to grades 9–12.

Staff framed the proposal as twofold: reduce classroom distraction to support academic engagement and reduce harms to students’ social and emotional well-being. "We want to give our kids a break, at least for part of the day," Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Dr. Amy Bartlett said in the presentation, noting the district had received 3,671 survey responses within about a week of the survey going live. Bartlett and other staff cited national research and local school data as evidence informing their recommendation.

In the presentation, staff described local measures and data: year-to-date counseling referrals for suicidal ideation (455), ongoing threat assessments and other crisis responses that together exceed 1,000 assessments this year, 669 mental-health referrals completed by school social workers and mental-health services, a Student Advocacy Specialist (SAS) caseload of about 2,111 students year-to-date, and 1,621 nurse visits for anxiety alongside 824 nurse visits for other mental-health concerns. Staff also said the district expects clinic visits this year to surpass 100,000. "We are completely wrapping services around this kid," a staff presenter said about SAS work; speakers emphasized staff are overwhelmed and that many incidents are tied to device use.

Staff presented benchmarks from other jurisdictions: Virginia’s Executive Order 33 (a statewide bell-to-bell approach for K–12) and a recent large-scale rollout in Los Angeles Unified School District, which implemented phased device restrictions and retained provisions for emergency access. Staff said they had consulted administrators from those systems about implementation details and exceptions for emergencies or verified medical needs.

The public-comment portion included about two dozen speakers who represented a range of views. Parents, teachers and mental-health professionals described cases they said illustrated harms from on-campus device use; a teacher, Molly Asp, said many middle-school students arrive at school “in tears” and added, "If this were me, I would 100% would not have survived middle school." Several parents urged a full K–12 ban, or at least an expansion to high school. A number of high-school students and other commenters opposed an across-the-board ban and asked the district to preserve classroom access for leadership roles, class-related communications and internships. Avani Joshi, a tenth-grade student and student-leader, said keeping phones in class helped her coordinate extracurricular responsibilities and argued that education on digital risks should accompany any restriction.

Staff repeatedly emphasized a partnership with families and the need for a balanced approach. Dr. Young, a district staff presenter, summarized the next steps: staff will review feedback, ask the board for formal marching orders, draft a recommended policy, present it at the regular May board meeting for public review, and return in June for a final board decision for implementation in the 2025–26 school year if approved.

Formal board action at the public forum itself was limited. The board made no policy vote at the forum; it did accept a motion to adjourn that was moved by Mr. McCall and seconded by Mr. Grimes and carried by a unanimous voice vote. The board’s explicit direction to staff was to draft policy language and a recommended implementation plan for future board consideration, aligning district procedure with the pending state legislation and with model policies as they become available.

Background and context: presenters referenced Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation and the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma when framing the national research base. Staff noted the district serves more than 55,000 students and that some middle schools in the district have already adopted stricter daylong device limits, which staff said produced “tremendous results.” Officials said the state bill currently addresses K–8 and that the district was not proposing to abandon common-sense exceptions—such as access for medical reasons or verified emergencies—while considering a high-school expansion.

The board scheduled further policy development and community engagement. Staff urged families who could not speak at the forum to submit comments via paper cards or the forum QR code; they said the written feedback would be coded and summarized for the board as part of the draft policy packet.

The forum closed after public comments and brief board remarks stressing the priority of student well-being and academic focus. The board will revisit the proposed policy in its written packet and public board meetings as described by staff.