Springfield parent urges board to ban student smartphones during school day

Scott McAnally, a parent addressing the Springfield School District Board of School Directors on Aug. 20, urged the district to reconsider its student device policy and to consider banning smartphones for the entire school day.

"If my child does not have a smartphone at school, but everyone else in the cafeteria does, what effect do you think that has on my child's ability to develop meaningful face-to-face social skills?" McAnally asked, describing the issue as a collective-action problem. He cited mounting evidence he said shows smartphones inhibit academic and social-emotional development and said full-day bans are becoming more common across districts nationwide.

McAnally raised safety concerns, saying that in an emergency students who need to listen to staff could be distracted by peers calling or recording the event. He also described equity issues, including students being photographed in hallways and posted to social media and limited access to shared facilities when many students are on devices.

The board did not take formal action on the device-policy request at this meeting. McAnally asked trustees to "consider aligning our district with the global and national trends, and give our kids a break from these devices, at least while they're at school." Trustees thanked him for speaking; no motion or referral was recorded in the meeting minutes.