Effective planning requires examining cell phone use in schools

As the superintendent of Community Unit School District 303, I am exceptionally proud of the Strategic Plan we introduced in the fall of 2023. Our Strategic Plan guides our decisions and drives our actions to achieve our goals. Our plan is built upon three pillars:

Our Strategic Plan pillars also offer a lens to reflect on our current practice. This reflection has led us to critically examine the use of smart devices (cell phones, smartwatches, etc.) and social media during the school day. We have engaged some of our educators in this conversation and for many, attempting to manage cell phones and social media has been challenging and distracting for their classes. Teachers believe a districtwide approach would aid them.

As a district that embraces our Strategic Plan, we owe it to our educators and students to start a communitywide conversation about the role and impact of cell phones and social media on our student's academic success and mental health. According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Social Media and Youth Mental Health Advisory, “social media use by youth is nearly universal, with 95% of youth ages 13—17 reporting using a social media platform and more than a third saying they use social media ‘almost constantly.’ Although age 13 is commonly the required minimum age used by social media platforms in the U.S., nearly 40% of children ages 8—12 use social media.”

In addition, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy states, “The most common question parents ask me is, ‘Is social media safe for my kids?’ The answer is that we don't have enough evidence to say it's safe and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health. Children are exposed to harmful content on social media, ranging from violence, sexual content, to bullying and harassment. And for too many children, social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in-person time with family and friends. We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis — one that we must urgently address.”

Over the coming weeks, I will invite educators, students and parents to enroll in and participate in a Superintendent Community Advisory Committee, focusing on the prospect of District 303 moving toward phone-free classrooms. This would mean that all District 303 students would store their phones, smartwatches and any other devices that can connect to social media and send or receive texts in phone caddies (safe & secure places to store phones) during each class period.

As members of this committee, we will collectively read Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, the U.S. Surgeon General’s report on social media and mental health and other relevant documents. Please watch for an opportunity to apply to be a member of the Superintendent Community Advisory Committee: Cell Phones/Social Media Procedure.

I want to be abundantly transparent — as I sit here writing this message, I anticipate that D303 will move to a phone-free classroom environment for the 2025-2026 school year. However, we must hear the voices of our community to fully understand the scope of this challenge and how to implement this potentially new procedure, which could benefit students within our schools and throughout our community. Although we can only select a small group to represent our students, staff and parents, we will conduct surveys and focus groups to gather input from a broader section of our community.

I look forward to learning with our community as we explore ways to support our students and live our commitment statement: Together Building Pathways to Excellence.

• Dr. Paul Gordon is superintendent of Community Unit School District 303 in St. Charles.