Right now across Colorado, school boards and district leaders are making a decision that will shape classrooms for years to come. Some of those districts are poised to hit the easy button and get it wrong.
Every district is required to adopt a cellphone policy by July 1, 2026, which means families have a narrow window to weigh in on a critical choice: classrooms defined by distraction, or ones where students can fully engage and learn.
What does getting it wrong look like? Restricting phones only during class time. It feels reasonable, but it is not.
As executive director of Stand for Children Colorado, I work closely with families, educators, and school leaders across the state. The message I hear consistently is clear: cellphones are undermining learning and students’ ability to focus, connect and engage with one another in ways that are impossible to ignore. In fact, 72% of U.S. high school teachers say phone distraction is a major problem, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
Colorado now has a rare opportunity to get this right.
This moment comes as schools grapple with rising anxiety, addictive algorithms and lost instructional time. Phones are not just a distraction; they pull students into constant comparison, notifications, and social pressure throughout the day. Students lose an estimated 43 minutes of learning time each day to their phones, according to Common Sense Media research.
Kids ages 13 and older pick up their phone over 100 times a day on average, Common Sense Media reported. Instruction is constantly interrupted. Social media conflicts spill into hallways and lunchrooms. Teachers spend valuable time policing phones instead of teaching.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Where districts have taken a clear, consistent approach — requiring phones to be off and away for the entire school day, including lunch and passing periods — the results are striking.
Schools with these policies report more instructional time, fewer behavioral disruptions, stronger student engagement, and improved peer relationships.
And itap not just the educators who are noticing the positive changes.
During a recent Stand community information session on phone-free schools, we heard from Bianca, a ninth grader in Boulder Valley School District, where schools have had a bell-to-bell phone-free policy since January 2025. Bianca told us: “I am able to study better. I am able to listen to teachers better without knowing that someone next to me is using their phone or playing video games. My mental and physical self have both changed tremendously over the course of a year in a phone-free school. I have strong friendships with both students and teachers.” She also said that being off phones for most of the day has reduced cyber-bullying. Some districts are considering policies that restrict phones only during instructional time.
The concern I hear more than any other from parents is, what if there’s an emergency and I can’t reach my child? School safety experts who train for and respond to these situations say phones can actually make students less safe. One superintendent described watching parents flood the school driveway during a lockdown, blocking emergency vehicles from getting in. No one wants to cut off communications. Schools have trained staff and protocols for reaching families safely. Students need to be fully present and attentive when it matters most.
That same principle applies throughout the school day. While it may feel like a reasonable compromise to allow phones outside of instructional time, inconsistent policies create ongoing disruption. As Jonathan Haidt, author of the best-selling “The Anxious Generation,” notes: Scientific studies show even short interruptions can derail learning and require significant time to recover. When phones reappear throughout the day, the cycle of distraction, social comparison, and emotional disruption never fully stops.
Districts seeing success have three things in common: phones are off and away all day, expectations are clearly communicated to students and families, and rules are consistently enforced with immediate consequences. And consequences shouldn’t be punitive. Suspensions and expulsions do not belong in a phone policy. Taking the phone and requiring a parent to pick it up does.
Don’t let your district settle for an “instructional time only” policy. If you believe your child deserves a classroom focused on learning, not distraction, and a school environment that supports mental health and real human connection, speak up.
Call your school board member. Email your superintendent. Show up at a meeting. Rally your community — like the over 300 people who recently emailed Douglas County school officials urging them to include high schools in the district’s bell-to-bell phone free policy. Tell them you support districtwide bell-to-bell for all schools.
Colorado has a chance to lead on this issue — not just to improve academic performance, but to improve mental health, make our schools safer, and help students rediscover what it means to feel present and connected. But that will only happen if leaders have the courage to go all in on something that has a track record of success from schools around Colorado, the country and the world.
Krista Spurgin is the executive director of Stand for Children Colorado, a nonprofit advancing solutions that increase opportunities for families, historically furthest from privilege, through meaningful partnerships with families, educators, schools, and policymakers.
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