Northwest High principal urges city backing for 'BRIC' phone‑free schools initiative

Larry Tosh, identified in the meeting as principal at Northwest High School, told the council he has spent nearly three decades in education and said the district experienced a suicide contagion in 2017–18 that prompted new mental‑health work. Tosh described a district effort he called BRIC (Building Resiliency in Kids) and framed smartphones and social media as central drivers of increased anxiety and depression among students.

Tosh outlined four parts of the initiative: recommend families delay giving children smartphones until about age 14; discourage social‑media access until roughly age 16; establish seven hours of phone‑free time during the school day using secure pouches for devices; and encourage more play‑based, risk‑tolerant childhood experiences. He described local pilot steps (pouches in classrooms, parent presentations and community book discussions) and cited research and commentators, including Jonathan Haidt, as informing the approach.

"Once you give a kid a cell phone, it will become the center of their life," Tosh said in describing the plan’s rationale. He reported that school leaders have seen substantial reductions in discipline incidents and improvements in classroom engagement where phone policies have been tightened.

Council members asked about parent reaction, logistics and whether neighboring districts had taken similar steps. Several members expressed support for the principle and asked staff to draft a resolution expressing the council’s support for the schools’ community initiative; Tosh said he would update a proposed resolution and return to council.

Ending: Council asked staff to draft language for a potential resolution of support; no ordinance or binding regulation was adopted by the council at this meeting.