Wasatch County School District administrators are looking into banning cellphones throughout the school day.
The district’s current policy aligns with Utah law, which prohibits the use of cellular and smart devices during class time. That means students can still use phones during passing periods or at lunch.
But Superintendent Garrick Peterson and other district leaders presented a stricter policy to the Board of Education Thursday that would ban phones from bell to bell.
“We're always looking at options there that could create an environment that is better for the education of our kids,” Peterson said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Aug. 28.
Peterson said the district could model the new policy after Park City School District’s. Administrators visited Park City High School to see how its full-day ban works.
Park City’s middle and high schoolers each have a magnetically locking pouch. Teachers lock the kids’ phones in the pouches at the beginning of the day and unlock them when the last bell rings.
Park City first implemented the pouches at its now-closed Treasure Mountain Junior High during the 2024-2025 school year. Administrators said the policy seemed to improve student behavior and connection. Teachers also supported the policy, saying it was easier to instruct kids without cellphones to distract them.
Midway parent Jocelyn Gardner voiced her support during the meeting. She referenced a University of Texas study that found just having a cellphone nearby inhibits people’s ability to concentrate.
“Taking this fight off the table isn't policing our children. It's giving their agency back,” Gardner said. “Evergreen Junior High in Salt Lake went phone-free, and their principal said it plainly: learning improved, test scores went up, and bullying and fighting went down.”
Wasatch said the pouch system would cost about $200,000.
The board expressed interest in a ban. They said any adopted policy would likely not be implemented until the 2027-2028 school year.
