When students return from winter break, BHS will have implemented a revised cellphone and electronic device policy required under Ohio’s new statewide mandate prohibiting student cellphone use during the instructional day. 

Ohio House Bill 96, signed into law in July 2025, requires all public, community and STEM schools to adopt compliant policies by Jan. 1, 2026. 

Principal Paul Chase said the district began preparing for the change over the summer. 

“There were a handful of meetings that we had early on in the summer with the central office administration … [reviewing] what the new law was and looking at our current policy,” he said. 

Under the policy previously in place, students were permitted to use phones in hallways or the cafeteria, a level of flexibility that will no longer be allowed. 

“We can’t have them out at all,” Chase said. 

The new rules require students to turn off phones and place them in lockers or backpacks for the entire school day. The restrictions also apply to earbuds, headphones, tablets, smartwatches and similar devices. 

Chase said this expansion is meant to ensure consistent enforcement. 

“Most of the time, [headphones] are going to be connected to a cell phone,” he said, noting the need to prohibit related devices as well.

When determining the disciplinary framework, the administration reviewed policies across the Chagrin Valley Conference. 

“I feel like our consequences fall in between,” Chase said. “There are some schools that are easier, and some schools that [have a tougher escalation of consequences].” 

Under the new system, consequences increase from device confiscation to parent pick-up, mandatory daily device check-ins and, for repeated violations, weekend detention and suspension. 

Chase said that enforcement will focus on obvious cases. 

“If people blatantly have their cell phones out in front of us … we have to address it,” he said. 

He cautioned students not to escalate encounters. 

“If [you are] caught, just turn over your cell phone … it is not worth it,” he said, adding that refusing to do so may result in a one-day out-of-school suspension for insubordination.

Ohio lawmakers have been moving towards this ban since last spring. Governor Mike DeWine called for a ban on cell phones in schools in April, and the Ohio Senate passed a bill in May, requiring school districts to adopt a ban by Sept. 1.

The Cincinnati Enquirer has reported that the mandate, attached to the state budget bill, reflects growing concern over classroom distraction, declining academic engagement and the effects of social media on student mental health 

Chase acknowledged that the transition may present challenges. 

“There’s going to be an adjustment period,” he said, noting that while the previous system was working at BHS, the new state law doesn’t allow flexibility. 

He added that the administration plans to revisit the policy after six months to evaluate its effect on discipline and school climate. 

“After we get through the first six months of this policy, we’ll revisit it,” he said.

Beachwood’s new policy places the district in line with other districts that have already implemented similar policies. 

According to the SHS Handbook, Solon High School prohibits devices from being “seen, heard, or used” between 7:50 a.m. and 2:55 p.m., requires parent pick-up for every offense and imposes out-of-school suspensions when a student refuses to surrender a device. 

Ohio’s new law follows national trends. The National Education Association noted that many educators support restrictions. Noelle Gilzow, a science teacher and president of the Columbia Missouri National Education Association (CMNEA) told a reporter from the organization’s news website that cell phones prevent teachers from doing their jobs. 

“Our number one job is creating a sound and effective learning environment,” she said. “Cellphones were making that impossible.”

Beachwood physics teacher Michael Lerner spoke about what he has seen in his classes. 

“I think a fair number of students are addicted to their phones as a way to cope with the stresses of school,” he said.

Social studies teacher Melissa Buddenhagen explained the distractions of phones in class that she has noticed and what she thinks the benefit to the ban is. 

“It’s not even a question that phones are a distraction,” Buddenhagen said. “In places where they’ve been taken away, the amount of improvement in kids’ performance and in their mental health is significant.”

“Attention has become so fractured over the last decade that it’s extraordinary,” she added.

Buddenhagen said the issue is not limited to cellphones alone.

“Kids are texting their parents all day,” she said. “They’re looking on the internet all day. If they’re not using their phone, they’re using a computer; if not a computer, it’s an iPad.” 

“It’s an electronic distraction,” she added. “Even typing can be a distraction from learning. I’m old school, I think school should be pen and paper because you want the largest amount of attention being paid to the work.”

Buddenhagen also noted that partial restrictions are ineffective. 

“Many of the methods schools use to take phones away are ineffective,” she said. “If the phone is in your bag, it’s not going to work. If it’s in your pocket, it’s not going to work. It needs to not be on your person. At the worst, it should be in a locker; at the best, at your house or in your car.”

Buddenhagen said she supports Ohio’s new cellphone ban wholeheartedly. 

“I believe the ban is probably the best idea the state has ever tried to [implement],” she said. “We’re ten years too late. Taking phones away will be difficult, but schools have to commit 100% to whatever strategy they use.”

She added that students might eventually find the policy liberating. 

“After a while, kids may realize that it’s freeing not to have them,” Buddenhagen said. “Your mom can’t text you, you can’t worry about who emailed you or what someone posted. You’re free to just do school or hang out with your friends. People aren’t recognizing how freeing that would be.”

Research also highlights potential academic and developmental implications of student phone use. There has been increasing concern about the impact of phone habits on teen mental health. 

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Ohio is one of 11 states that has already implemented a statewide ban, and many more seem likely to follow.

“The resurgence of cellphone bans follows two advisories from the U.S. Surgeon General on the youth mental health crisis and the harmful impacts of social media use and recommendations from UNESCO to limit cellphone use in schools across the world,” the Foundation reported.

Supporters of stricter limits point to research indicating that reducing cellphone access can improve academic engagement and social interaction. 

Chase said he expects to see similar changes at Beachwood. 

“I do think it should help with socializing the cafeteria and socializing classes, a little bit more,” he said. 

The school is considering creative ways to encourage conversation, such as reintroducing board game tables in the cafeteria.

Chase said he shares some of the concerns of others. “I don’t want discipline to increase,” he said. “We have a pretty safe building … I don’t want this to [lead to] out-of-school suspensions.”

Administrators are currently visiting classrooms to outline expectations and answer student questions. Students and parents were notified by email on Nov. 16 of the new policy, and it can be found in the BHS Student & Parent Handbook. 

Chase said the goal is to maintain strong relationships with students throughout the transition.

“We’re going to try to be really fair with it and do the best we can together,” he said.