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By: Joanne Laucius

Ontario is banning cell phones in classrooms and vaping on school property with the start of the new school year.

The bans are among a package of measures announced last April.

“With their constant stream of notifications and pings, it’s no surprise to anyone that cellphones constantly grab our attention,” Minister of Education Jill Dunlop said Thursday. “This is why it was necessary to restrict cellphones in the classroom and enable students to restore focus on learning so they can achieve better academic outcomes.” 

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Here’s why the bans have been introduced and how Ontario schools will be enforcing them.

Q: What’s the evidence that cell phones negatively affect learning?

A: Benefits of removing cell phones from K-12 classrooms include reducing distractions, cyberbullying and stress.

“Multiple systematic reviews of studies conducted across many countries (including the U.K., China, Germany, Japan, Finland, Israel and the United States) have found that, for young people, excessive smartphone use was associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety, high levels of perceived stress levels, and poor sleep quality and shorter sleep duration,” according to The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. 

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Q: What about parents who wish to stay in contact with children during the school day, or students who must reach parents? 

A: Call the main office, local school boards say.

“If it is an urgent or emergency situation, we will immediately notify your child,” the OCDSB said.

“Contacting your child during class time distracts them from their school work and the needed in-person interaction with their peers and educators,” D’Amico said in his message to parents. “If your child needs to contact you during the school day, they can access a phone in the school office.”

Q: Can students still access social media?

A: The Ministry of Education requires that social-media sites such as TikTok, Facebook, and Snapchat be blocked on school networks and on all school devices, but recognizes that students can still access social-media sites using their own devices or data plans.

Q: Are there legal questions around denying students access to their cellphones or seizing them? 

A: There could be. Disability stakeholder groups such as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind have

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stressed the importance of allowing students to use their phones during class time for accessibility reasons. 

Meanwhile, cellphones are expensive pieces of equipment that may contain private information.

In a paper on litigation due to issues such as cyberbullying, cheating and searches, published in the Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, the authors pointed out that Sections 7 and 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protected all citizens against unjustified intrusions on privacy interests.

“In schools, though, the safety and well-being of others appears to override the individual right to privacy; thus, student rights in a school setting are relatively lower than elsewhere in contemporary society,” the authors said.

“This principle is significant because it suggests that, if cell phones are being used to harm other students, as with cyberbullying, for example, then educators have the legal right to confiscate — and, potentially, search — students’ phones without a warrant.”

Q: What policies can make a ban effective? 

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A: In announcing the ban, the Province of Ontario said it would provide mandatory training for teachers and new supports for students and parents.

The authors of the Journal of Educational Administration and Policy paper said simply writing policies had been shown to be ineffective without proper enforcement.

If students violate the rules, policies should spell out their due-process rights. In protecting these rights, policies should identify the circumstances under which educators can confiscate students’ cellphones, who can take them away, who has the authority to possess phones once they are taken away from students, how long officials can maintain possession of phones and when, to whom, and under what conditions they can be returned, the authors said.

In setting punishments, policies should include progressive levels of discipline, outlining sanctions for first and subsequent offences during the same academic year, the paper said. Policies should also require parents and students to read, sign and date forms indicating that they will observe school rules and regulations.

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Q: What about vaping?

A: Ontario’s government is also strengthening the rules around students caught using or carrying vapes or cigarettes. Students will be required to surrender these products, and parents will be notified immediately.

In the last provincial budget, the government announced it would give $30 million to school boards for vape detectors and security upgrades, part of $47.5 million to implement the cellphone and vaping rules.

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$15 million will be spent on programs offering direct supports for students who are at risk of substance use and addictive behaviours;

$1 million will be spent on developing webinars and resources for parents and students to learn how to talk about the adverse effects of vaping and $1. 5 million has been earmarked for

school boards to work with parent-involvement committees to run grassroots campaigns to deter vaping and cellphone distractions.

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