Social studies teacher Phil Stetson was initially skeptical last year when Harwood Union Middle and High School announced that students could no longer use cellphones during the day.
He’d seen how addicted they were to their phones and the anxiety-producing power struggles the devices created between students and teachers. But Stetson believed the devices were an essential part of modern life and that teaching young people to use them responsibly was better than banning them.
Now, as the first phone-free school year comes to an end, he’s a convert.
More of the school’s 585 students are making eye contact and saying “hi” in the hallways. They’re chatting in the cafeteria and playing card games in the senior lounge. They’re more engaged in academic work. And the power struggles between teachers and students have all but disappeared.
“It’s been an amazing change,” Stetson said.
He’s not alone in his enthusiasm. Seven Days interviewed multiple Harwood teachers and students who expressed satisfaction, and even relief, with the bell-to-bell phone ban.
“I feel like more memories are being made because of the face-to-face interactions.” Lincoln Dice
Social studies teacher Adam Sargent said it’s transformed school culture in the most profound way he’s seen in his 21 years as an educator. English teacher Eve Berinati said it’s improved her relationships with students. And Harwood senior Lincoln Dice said going phone-free has provided more opportunities to connect with friends as their high school careers wind down.
“I feel like more memories are being made because of the face-to-face interactions,” he said.
Harwood was one of a handful of trailblazing schools in Vermont that went phone-free last fall. Now, a bill poised to be passed in the Vermont legislature would require every other school district to follow suit.
H.480, the miscellaneous education bill, would charge the Vermont Agency of Education with creating a model policy that prohibits students from using cellphones and other personal electronic devices from arrival to dismissal. Local school boards would then have to adopt the state policy or create their own equally comprehensive one by the start of the 2026-27 school year.
The legislation also would prohibit school districts from using social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook to communicate directly with students. And districts couldn’t require students to use social media for academic work or school-sponsored activities. Twelve other states have passed legislation that bans students’ use of cellphones from bell to bell, but Vermont would be the first in the nation to implement the social-media prohibition.
A bipartisan majority in both the House and Senate supports the phone-free school legislation, and Gov. Phil Scott has indicated he’ll sign the measure.
“I don’t believe that phones should be utilized in school,” Scott said during a press conference at Montpelier’s U-32 Middle & High School last month. “I’m in favor of doing something.” He noted that even he and members of his cabinet are guilty of getting distracted by their phones during meetings “instead of listening to each other.”
At Harwood, educators had been asking for the change for years. But the pandemic, and the reliance on technology that came with it, delayed any action. By last spring, it became clear that the vast majority of teachers and staff wanted a change because phones disrupted learning and fragmented students’ attention.
Rather than having the school board pass a formal policy or asking students whether they wanted to go phone-free, administrators decided to simply implement new procedures. Assistant principal Jessica Deane characterized it as “an adult decision about what we knew would be best for our school community and students.”
Still, they knew the change wouldn’t be effective if students didn’t buy in. Administrators organized a series of community discussions to explain the decision and ask students what they needed for it to be successful.
Even though she helped facilitate the community discussions, junior Kira Rundle said “it felt personal” when the school posted flyers last spring announcing the phone-free policy. Other students were similarly dubious.
“I’m glad it happened, but, initially, I was not on board,” Rundle recalled.
Harwood used the last of its COVID-19 relief money to purchase slim fabric bags with magnetic locks, known as Yondr pouches, in which students would store their phones during the school day. They cost about $30 apiece. Other schools have achieved a similar result with low- or no-cost options such as wooden phone lockers or manila envelopes.
Harwood teachers and students expressed satisfaction, and even relief, with the bell-to-bell phone ban.
The pouches helped get students accustomed to the procedures, Harwood principal Meg McDonough said. But as the school year progressed and students adjusted, some stopped using the pouches, instead just keeping their phones in their cars or backpacks.
Administrators were OK with that. Policing pouches wasn’t how they wanted to expend their energy.
“We made a very intentional decision to offer trust,” McDonough said. “The expectation is, they’re away. We don’t see them, and we don’t hear them.”
If a student is caught with a phone out, a teacher isn’t the one who takes it away. Instead, they get in touch with student support staff, who are responsible for enforcing the rules so that teachers can focus on teaching.
After a first infraction, the student’s phone is taken for the rest of the school day. After a second, the student is required to drop off their phone in the main office at the beginning of the day for two weeks. A third violation leads to a meeting with parents.
There have been around 230 infractions this school year, according to Deane, though some of them involve the same students. Just a handful have broken the rule three times.
Senior Teighen Pelkey-Fils-Aime was initially worried about the new procedures, he said. But just a week into the school year, he got into the habit of leaving his phone in his car. He shares the vehicle with his mom, and if she needs to get in touch during the school day, she emails him. Like all students at Harwood, he has a school-issued laptop; he checks email regularly.
Pulling out a phone in class, he said, is “just not a good look in general.”
Creating such social norms is a big part of what makes phone-free school initiatives a success, said Anne Maheux, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She researches adolescent development and digital media use.
Some students say their habits have also changed outside of school. At a hearing before the House Education Committee last month, Harwood senior Celia Wing told lawmakers that not having her phone at school has made it easier for her to separate from it at home.
When she’s doing her homework, she said, “I’m not thinking, Where’s my phone?”
Harwood teachers are also expected to stow their phones during class, though they can use them during breaks, when students aren’t around. Stetson, the social studies teacher, said he’s noticed his overall phone use has decreased. He’s also much more satisfied with his job. He has fewer confrontations with students over phones, and the job is “more joyful,” he said. Students have longer attention spans and are able to do deeper thinking and analysis, and the quality of their work is better.
“Discipline is back to, ‘You’re being too silly,’ or too loud and not just, ‘Let me have your phone,'” math teacher Becky Allen said.
Grades have also gone up, though that could be related to many factors, Deane, the assistant principal, acknowledged. But other metrics have improved, too. Students are checking out more books from the school library. Investigations into hazing, harassment and bullying — which often originate on social media — have also dropped.
Some students are still testing boundaries, especially as end-of-year spring fever sets in, Deane said. Making sure teachers hold firm to the rules and mete out consequences uniformly has been key.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Harwood staff and students believe a statewide ban is a good idea.
Even with a clear policy, there will be logistical challenges that come up in every school, Deane said, but nothing is insurmountable. Administrators and teachers, after all, troubleshoot problems every day. At Harwood, for instance, students in art and music classes can use school-issued cellphones to take videos and photos, but the devices can’t access the internet. One student even purchased a secondhand Walkman so he could listen to cassette tapes in school in lieu of streaming music.
Harwood students had advice for their peers now facing potential phone bans: Go into it with an open mind.
“It happened, and we had to adjust to it,” Pelkey-Fils-Aime said. “Honestly, I think we feared it too much.”
The original print version of this article was headlined “Bye, Phone | Vermont is poised to ban cellphones during school. It’s already been a success on one local campus.”
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This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2025.
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