Montville public pushes for "bell-to-bell" phone ban; district to survey community
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Summary
Parents, students and mental-health professionals urged the Montville Township Board of Education to adopt a bell-to-bell phone-free policy for schools. The district's high school has formed a committee and will send a community survey; the policy committee will review the survey before distribution.
Dozens of parents, students and local educators urged the Montville Township Board of Education on Tuesday to adopt a bell-to-bell cellphone ban in district schools, saying unrestricted phones harm students’ attention, social development and mental health.
Speakers including Nicole Ward, a parent, and Lauren Murielo, a parent and licensed psychotherapist, told the board that partial bans — such as storing phones only during class — do not address the ways smartphones fragment attention and are used as avoidance tools. “Only a bell-to-bell policy will push our children to develop coping mechanisms for awkward social situations,” Ward said. Murielo said the policy would be “a gift” that protects learning time and face-to-face socializing.
A number of other speakers, including parents Tina Salmanowitz and Rob Ciccarelli and Ramsey educator Douglas Simonowitz, described local and out‑of‑district experiences with phone-free policies, saying they saw declines in bullying, classroom disruptions and investigations after implementation. Simonowitz described Ramsey’s magnetically sealed pouch system and said the district’s investigations for harassment and bullying fell after the policy’s launch.
Dr. Gorman, the district superintendent, told the board the high school has formed a committee made up of students, teachers, administrators and parents to study cellphone rules and that the committee will distribute a community survey in the coming weeks. He said the policy committee will receive and review the questionnaire before it goes to the public and that the committee will report results in December or January.
Board members and members of the public expressed debate about logistics, safety and parental concerns about contacting children during emergencies. Several speakers said schools can maintain emergency communications through the main office or school devices and that clear exceptions would be made for students with health needs.
The board did not take formal action on a districtwide phone rule at Tuesday’s meeting; instead, members directed the high school committee to finalize the survey and share it with the policy committee for review before distribution.
The board’s next steps will include reviewing the survey results and discussing any recommended policy changes at a future meeting.
