A new statewide cellphone ban received mixed reviews from the Oklahoma City Board of Education while it implemented the policy on Monday.
The board voted 5-1 to restrict student cellphone use throughout the entire school day. Students will be allowed to have cellphones or other personal electronic devices on school premises, on school transportation and at school-sponsored activities, but they are forbidden from using the devices from the morning bell until dismissal at the end of the day.
All Oklahoma districts have to implement a similar policy to comply with Senate Bill 139. The state Legislature and governor passed the law in May to ban cellphone use in public schools for the 2025-26 academic year with the goal of reducing distractions and behavioral issues in the classroom.
After 2025-26, local school boards will have the choice to pick a different policy or continue with the same restrictions.
Responses from the Oklahoma City school board were a mix of intrigue, resignation and even frustration with the statewide mandate.
“I’m pretty excited to hear about student outcomes and how this particular policy will affect that,” board member Jessica Cifuentes said.
Oklahoma City, with just under 33,000 children enrolled, was the largest district still permitting student cellphone access until the new law took effect. A growing number of districts, including the state’s largest, Tulsa Public Schools, already had begun implementing restrictions on cellphones.
Oklahoma City school board member Mike Shelton, a former state lawmaker, cast the only no vote against the new rule.
“I don’t disagree that we should pass a policy, but I’m not for the Legislature dictating what’s going on at the Oklahoma City Public Schools,” Shelton said during the board’s discussion.
Had a majority of the board voted against the policy, “we would put the district in harm’s way,” board Chairperson Paula Lewis said, though she said she does “respect not liking the Legislature telling us what to do.”
The new state law is unequivocal that, for the next academic year, all Oklahoma public schools must ban non-school-issued personal electronic devices except in emergency cases or for students monitoring a health issue.
Shelton also expressed concerns that schools could apply the cellphone ban and student discipline unevenly across the sprawling district.
District administrators and principals “will attempt to be on one accord” when putting the policy in practice at individual schools, Superintendent Jamie Polk said. Polk also pledged to update the board twice this school year on the policy’s implementation and its response within schools.
The new law requires districts to enforce the cellphone ban with disciplinary procedures.
General counsel Tony Childers said Oklahoma City schools will apply the district’s existing conduct regulations, which outline expected responses and punishment based on the severity of a student’s behavior.
He said the district is “not looking at out-of-school suspension” to punish violations of the cellphone ban.
In-school suspension, detention, phone calls home and loss of privileges are some discipline options for repeat offenses, according to the district’s student code of conduct.
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