will prohibit all students from using cellphones during school hours when the 2026-27 academic year begins in August.
The Board of Education voted unanimously Monday evening to , which applies to both district-run and charter schools.
“We know constant access to technology can be a distraction to learning,” board Treasurer Donald “DJ” Torres said.
DPS, the state’s largest district, is the latest K-12 system in Colorado to ban smartphones in schools, joining a national movement aimed at curtailing social media use during instructional time.
DPS’s new policy prohibits students from using cellphones and other devices, including smartwatches, during and between classes. The ban does not apply if students leave campus during their lunch period.
Previously, DPS left it up to individual schools to determine if and when students were allowed to use phones. DPS created the new districtwide policy after hearing parents and teachers largely supported a “bell-to-bell” ban.
The school board’s vote also comes as a new state law requires each of Colorado’s K-12 districts to craft a cellphone policy by July 1. DPS’s policy is more stringent than mandated by the state law, which only requires districts to create policies that address smartphones in schools.
The board is leaving it up to school leaders to decide how to enforce the policy. Some schools already require students to put their devices in locked pouches when they enter the building or in buckets during class.
More than 80% of community members contacted by DPS supported banning cellphones in class, while 64% of them approved of an all-day ban in middle and high schools, according to a presentation given to the school board last week.
Parents and school employees were more likely to favor cellphone bans than students were, according to the survey results.
“It was a thoughtful community recommendation,” board Secretary Marlene De La Rosa said of the policy.
