While online and digital learning became the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reliance on technology has made students, and perhaps everyone, more attached to their cellphones. 

Some teachers have had enough.

The Santa Barbara Unified School District has been working to limit cellphone use in class for a few years now.

Two years ago, the district enacted an “off and away” policy that required students to keep their electronics in their backpacks and not use them during class time.  

Gov. Gavin Newsom recently praised the district for its efforts while encouraging other districts across the state to follow its example. 

Now, Santa Barbara Unified’s high schools are taking their policy to the next level. 

This year, every classroom will have a “cell hotel” that students will be required to put their phones in before every class. Many teachers are using a fabric numbered pouch as their “cell hotel.”

Phones have to stay in the “cell hotel” during restroom breaks, but students can get their phones after class and use them during lunch and other breaks.

Assistant Superintendent ShaKenya Edison said the “off and away” policy started after teachers asked for a districtwide effort to limit cellphones in class. At the time, it was up to teachers if they wanted to use a “cell hotel” or just have students leave their electronics in their backpacks. 

Now, Dos Pueblos High School, Santa Barbara High School and San Marcos High School have elected to do schoolwide cell hotels.

Edison said they’re treating cellphone use as an addiction that is distracting students from learning and engaging in class. 

“We had students for 2½ years where their only mode of social interaction and or access to instruction was through a device,” Edison said. “So, that dependency precludes the pandemic, but it definitely was heightened after the pandemic.”

Midway through last school year, San Marcos High enacted a schoolwide cell hotel policy, but many teachers were already using the cell hotels for a few years. 

Devon Espejo began teaching art at San Marcos last year after previously teaching middle-schoolers and quickly realized just how distracted students really were. 

“I got to high school and I was like, ‘Oh my God. It’s everywhere.’ It’s a constant distraction,” Espejo said. “There’s 2,000 people at San Marcos, and admin really can’t regulate it on their own.” 

Espejo said she had one class last year with 35 students and would have to spend 15 minutes at the start of class just dealing with the phones. She said students would put fake phones in the cell hotels or lie about not having a phone, forcing her to question her own students.

“I don’t like the trust issues that come up, where I’m having to question them,” Espejo said. “That’s just taking away from teaching. Now my job is policing phones. I want to teach art. That’s what I want to do, not police phones.”

Espejo is hoping that things will get better now that the other schools are implementing the cell hotels. Additionally she would like a system that sends parents a text if their child broke the rules or had to have their phone taken away. The district already has a system of notifying parents via text if their student was absent or late to school.

“I would love for a way to have some kind of automatic way to send messages to parents that’s just like one click, because right now it’s a lot of layers of protocol and it’s happening constantly,” Espejo said. “I can’t squash it unless I have one button to push where a parent gets alerted immediately.”

When students did violate the policy, Espejo was told she needed to call the campus safety team to take students to the office to meet with the dean and call home before sending them back to class. 

“For the repeat offenders, they’re just doing it all the time, but for some kids, that’ll scare them and they won’t do it again,” Espejo said. “I’m just saying, take the phone and leave the kid in class.”

When Dos Pueblos High School Principal Bill Woodard saw San Marcos taking the cell hotels campuswide, he decided to try it at the start of the new school year, and so will Santa Barbara High School.

“That will hopefully limit the distraction of having it, the temptation of having it on your body. Even though it’s supposed to be off and away, there are too many loopholes,” Woodard said. 

Woodard said he also was motivated by the amount of research saying that students were distracted by their phones in class. 

“We decided that we’re an educational institution and it’s time to take a stand and just do this for our own good, for the students own good, for the well-being of them and their learning,” Woodard said. 

Woodard said he has received a positive response from parents, and that with their help, he’s optimistic that students will follow the rules. 

“At least at Dos Pueblos, 90% of our students will do what we ask them to do. They’re great kids, they understand, they follow the rules,” Woodard said. “The 10% that don’t, we have a graduated series of consequences that will happen.”

If it becomes too big of an issue, Woodard said they won’t let students bring their phones at all, something that he said a few parents are already requested. 

There are some exceptions for students who may need their phones for medical reasons, such as monitoring insulin levels, but earbuds and other electronics have to be turned off and stored away.

Gracie Perez, a parent to a San Marcos junior and a 2020 graduate, said she’s been happy with the school’s effort to limit distractions. 

“To me as a parent, I believe it’s a good idea to take away distractions from students,” Perez said. “It’s a good idea, because the kids focus more on studying and learning, and they’re not always just staring at their phone.”

Perez said that last year when San Marcos had a lockdown, students were allowed to use their phones to contact their families. Perez had another instance last year when she needed to reach her daughter, so she called the office and was able to speak to her within five minutes. 

While Perez said her daughter doesn’t like having to give up her phone, she understands why the school does it. 

“Cellphones should be something that you use in your free time and at home,” Perez said. “They have their iPads for school work, and they’re socializing with their friends during lunch, so it’s not a big deal. I think it’s an awesome idea.”