Every year NSD’s Superintendent hosts a Student Advisory Board in order to hear student voices from across the district. The new superintendent this year, Dr. Justin Irish, the new superintendent as of July, is continuing the practice. The first meeting was primarily focused on feedback on the new district phone policy that began this year.
The policy was developed by a task force last year consisting of teachers, students, parents, administration and experts.* The policy in its current form requires high school students to put their phones in a container for the duration of class time. For younger students, the policy is “no cell bell to bell”. This policy was enacted by the School Board in February of 2025 for implementation in the 25-26 school year. Some schools, such as Bothell and North Creek, had implemented a similar policy already.
So what do students think? Many students shared their opinions, and the policy was received positively in general. A common observation was better participation in class and in social settings. For some students, the draw of the phone is nearly impossible to resist and being forced to give it up is seen as a benefit. Others have been more responsible in the past, leading to annoyance in having to give up their phones. District officials cited research saying that even proximity can be problematic.
Some form of a phone policy is generally supported, however there was feedback on the specific implementation. The most common piece of feedback was spotty enforcement. While a district mandate has made it far easier for teachers that support the policy to enforce it, it is ultimately up to the teacher to make students give up their phones. Some teachers don’t implement the phone policy but there is little effect due to high levels of student engagement. Others ignore the policy entirely, forcing students to manage their usage on their own. There is certainly an argument to be made for encouraging students to build the responsibility on their own, but ultimately district officials see greater benefits from removing phones from class time.
Another common piece of feedback was how the phone policy would work in circumstances that weren’t a typical classroom. Photography classes at Inglemoor have made use of phones as cameras and the new restrictions have forced them to hastily shift to cameras, which have been difficult to acquire. Northshore Networks, a program of Northshore Learning Options, has a graduating class size of 7, long classes, and no passing periods, making the situation far different than one of the standard high schools. Similar issues were brought up regarding the usage of personal devices, primarily laptops, in classes. Some programs cannot be run on chromebooks or are far less effective. Students cannot access personal accounts on chromebooks, which can be important for learning and college applications. Problems with the district internet filters were also brought up, which was largely met with the request for students to talk to their school’s technology specialist in order to get useful websites whitelisted.
In all, district leaders are monitoring the effects of the new device policy but are largely happy with the changes. Of course there will be issues in the specifics with such a broad and general policy, but the district is interested in improving these situations. If you have issues with the device policy or something else in school, reach out. Talk to teachers, administration and your fellow students. Your friendly local board members Molly Hakkarainen, John Skelton and Morgan Hannah are here to help. All of us would love to hear your voices about any issue that matters to you.
*One specific source that was brought up in regards to the phone policy was The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. Published in 2024, this book focused on the reduction in mental health and academic success since the rise of social media. The difference that it focuses on is the recent advent of causational research as opposed to the correlational data that has been around for years. It’s a good book that I would recommend reading.