State board committee backs resolution urging comprehensive LEA cell phone policies; will ask full board to adopt

The Maryland State Board of Education's Education Policy Committee voted unanimously to recommend a draft state board resolution that urges local school systems to adopt comprehensive cell phone policies that set clear expectations for students and families, provide for legal exemptions and accommodations, consider emergency preparedness, and incorporate stakeholder feedback.

"A resolution... cannot pose a requirement for our LEAs," Laurel Kressley, MSDE's blueprint implementation and strategic initiatives coordinator, told the committee while previewing the draft. Kressley said the resolution is intended to signal the state board's approach and summarize MSDE's view on best-practice components of LEA policies while preserving local flexibility.

Kressley summarized the task force process that informed the draft: the task force met four times between January and March, included representatives from 11 counties (parents, students, teachers, principals and superintendents) and reviewed promising local practices, other states' policies and national research. MSDE emphasized that the task force framed its recommendations as considerations rather than prescriptive requirements for LEAs.

MSDE also collected informal data from LEAs and participated in a national research effort. Kressley said MSDE's quick survey showed that 23 of 24 LEAs responding have adopted a policy with their boards, and that nine of 23 respondents indicated they were pioneering a new policy for 2025-26 or had made significant revisions. Maryland also joined Phones in Focus, a national study of school-level phone policies led by Dr. Angela Duckworth; Kressley said Maryland ranked second among states in participation, with roughly 53% of Maryland schools represented and nearly 8,000 educators and school leaders responding.

Committee members praised the task force work and the emphasis on flexibility. "It's such an expansive thing with so many considerations," said Samir Paul, a committee member, praising the effort to surface diverse views. Omari Barnes, the student member, asked for more detail about LEA responses; MSDE said it will present fuller survey results at the full board meeting at the end of the month.

The committee chair moved to recommend the resolution and members voted in favor; the chair declared the vote unanimous. The recommended resolution does not itself mandate LEA action. MSDE staff said the draft will be presented to the full State Board for possible adoption at the board's Aug. 26 meeting; Dr. Angela Duckworth will be invited to present the Phones in Focus findings and MSDE will present a more detailed summary of its LEA survey at that meeting.