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To the Editor:

In seventh grade, my son needed a Chromebook for school. Within a few months, I had a different kid.

At school, he raced through classwork so he could play games online with his friends. At home, assignments that should have taken an hour on the computer stretched into several hours because a browser tab with YouTube shorts was always one click away. He stopped reading. He quit piano. He abandoned the model aircraft he had been building. His focus deteriorated so badly that we suspected ADHD.

It took me more than a year to understand what was going on.

We have since put firm limits on screen time and phone use. Now he is doing better, but he has not gone back to the piano, or the books, or the models.

What happened in my house is not unusual, and it is not confined to homework. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that students spend nearly a third of the school day on their phones. High schoolers were the heaviest users, averaging 23 minutes of every hour against 12 minutes for middle schoolers. The students who checked most often also scored worse on measures of attention and impulse control.

The argument over screens in school is usually made on academic grounds, but a distracted, anxious, chronically interrupted child does not learn. Mental health is the foundation of academic achievement.

The district has reviewed curriculum to encourage judicious use of Chromebooks. Our middle schools have tightened access policies. The middle schools already have bell-to-bell cellphone restrictions, but the high schools do not.

Under a permissive “Bring Your Own Device” policy, high schoolers may use smartphones during passing time, in study halls, and in the cafeteria. They may also bring personal laptops, which lets them instant message friends during class using software that the district’s own Chromebooks do not allow. Any student can create a cellular hotspot and bypass the district’s filters entirely. Content filters and acceptable-use rules operate on the network, but the distraction operates on the device. To restore focus, we have to address the physical presence of the device.

On Aug. 5, 2026, the Connecticut State Board of Education unanimously adopted an updated position statement on personal technology in schools. Citing a mounting crisis in student engagement and well-being, the Board strongly recommended that districts establish district-wide, full-day “bell-to-bell” restrictions on student use of personal technology. It joined the Connecticut Education Association, AFT Connecticut, and the Phone-Free CT coalition in calling for a consistent approach across our state.

Manchester High School shows what this can look like. In the first quarter after adopting a bell-to-bell policy, the number of A and B grades rose 4 percent and the number of Fs fell 3 percent compared with the year before. Disciplinary incidents unrelated to cellphones (skipped classes, fights, etc.) fell from 1,040 to 369. Chronic absenteeism dropped from 25% to 18%. No single policy solves every challenge our schools face, but such gains are notoriously difficult to produce.

Many parents understandably worry about reaching their children in an emergency. Safety professionals make the opposite case. Writing in CT Insider, New Haven Police Chief David Zannelli and Paul Grech, Assistant Director of Security and Operations for Fairfield Public Schools, described what happens when hundreds of students use phones at once during a crisis: overloaded cell networks and dropped calls, dispatchers swamped with duplicate reports, rumors traveling faster than facts, and parents converging on a perimeter that first responders need kept clear. Emergency communication is safest when it runs through trained administrators relaying verified information.

The West Hartford Board of Education will discuss a draft position statement on personal technology on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. in Room 312 at Town Hall. A statement is a good start, but what our students need is policy. That means one district-wide standard at all schools for all students; phones stored away from students (not merely silenced); no use of personal laptops and smartwatches; clear exceptions for medical devices, IEP and 504 accommodations, and English learners; and enforcement that individual teachers are not left to improvise. The state’s guidance also asks administrators to engage families directly about mindful use of technology; a school policy alone will not undo habits formed at home.

By disconnecting from personal screens during the school day, we can help West Hartford students reconnect with their peers, their teachers, and their education. It took me more than a year to see what was happening in my own house, to one child, in plain sight. We have better information now. It is time to act on it.

Jonathan Rheaume

Jonathan Rheaume, PhD, is a West Hartford parent and co-founder of FOCUS (Fostering Optimal Connectivity, Understanding & Safety), an advocacy group dedicated to child wellness and digital safety through advocacy and education. FOCUS publishes a periodic newsletter. Reach out at [email protected].

Reference List:

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study college.unc.edu/2026/03/teens-cell-phone-checking/
• Connecticut State Board of Education updated position statement regarding personal technology in schools https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/sde/board/positionstatement_cellphoneuse_2026.pdf
• Manchester High School bell-to-bell policy results https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/conn-schools-see-attendance-grades-rise-after-phone-restrictions
• Opinion: New Haven and Fairfield limit student use of phones. We’re seeing good results https://www.ctinsider.com/opinion/article/bridgeport-fairfield-cell-schools-22211752.php
• WHPS Board of Education Meetings and Agendas https://www.whps.org/boe/agendas-and-minutes