Schools across N.C. are banning cell phones. Here’s why Cumberland isn’t.

While more and more schools nationwide are banning cell phones this school year, Cumberland County Schools is not changing its policies.

“Cumberland County Schools is closely monitoring discussions across the country regarding cell phone bans,” Cumberland County Schools Superintendent Marvin Connelly Jr. told CityView. “However, at this time, this is not something we are actively considering for our school system.”

CCS policy allows students to have cell phones and other personal technology devices on school property. How the devices are allowed on school campuses and whether they can be used is up to each principal, according to Cumberland County School’s 2024-25 student code of conduct. 

The rules vary widely across the district.

Cape Fear High School completely bans cell phones and other personal technology devices from being used on campus during the school day, according to the school’s 2023-24 student handbook. Terry Sanford High School’s student handbook from last school year does allow phones and leaves it up to each teacher to specify their classroom policies in their syllabi. 

Schools like Reid Ross Classical and Hope Mills Middle School ban students from using their cell phones, but have exceptions in their handbooks for instructional use — leaving it to teachers to determine whether they want to incorporate them into their lessons. Others, like Massey Hill Classical High School, only permit cell phone use during lunch.

“Our goal is to create an environment where students can succeed academically while staying healthy and safe,” Connelly wrote in an email message to CityView. “We believe in a balanced approach that allows for the benefits of technology while minimizing potential distractions.”

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 70% of schools said that teachers used technology for classroom activities to a moderate or large extent. In Cumberland County Schools, assignments and grades are handed out via Canvas, an online education software. Schools hand out laptops to students to complete their online work. Some teachers incorporate online quiz games like Kahoot! into their classrooms, requiring a cell phone, tablet or laptop to play.

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American children ages 8 to 12 spend four to six hours a day looking at a screen. The academy states it is up to nine hours for American teens. The Pew Research Center found that 46% of teens aged 13 to 17 used the Internet almost constantly in a 2023 study.

Child cell phone use, and the social media platforms they access on the devices, is such a concern that, in 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory about it. The advisory compiles studies that show social media “is associated with body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and depressive symptoms” and can stimulate the brain in the same way as an addiction. 

“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,” Dr. Murthy said in a statement published alongside his advisory.

Cumberland County Schools offer family engagement sessions to discuss the challenges associated with constant cell phone use and how their child’s education could be impacted. Other North Carolina school systems are testing whether cell phone bans resolve some of the related issues. 

This year, six schools in Chatham County and two middle schools in Brunswick County are using Yondr pouches, a pouch with a magnetic lock that does not open unless waived over a specific unlocking system. In the Chatham County pilot schools, students will place their phones in the pouch at the start of their first class and can only unlock them at the end of the day. The pouch and phone stay in the student’s possession throughout the day.

Warren County Schools also ordered 1,000 pouches for this school year at a cost of over $30,000, according to reporting from WRAL.

Yondr — a 10-year-old California-based company — claims on its website its participating schools saw an 83% and 65% improvement in student engagement and academic performance, respectively. The company also states participating schools saw a 74% positive change in student behavior.

“We have been pleasantly surprised by the consistently positive feedback we receive directly from students at Yondr schools,” a Yondr spokesperson told CityView. “Students have expressed significant relief and gratitude for the break from their devices, reporting less anxiety and more engagement in their social interactions and academic activities. Feedback from teachers has also been remarkable.”

Despite maintaining its current policies, Conelly understands the risks of near-constant access to social media platforms. In December 2023, the Cumberland County Board of Education joined a lawsuit against a handful of social media platforms and their parent companies — including Meta, ByteDance and Google — to hold them “accountable, and achieve comprehensive, longterm planning and funding to drive sustained reduction in the mental health crises its students experience” as a result of the platforms, according to the complaint.

The North Carolina General Assembly is also concerned about phone use in schools. Introduced in the 2023 legislative session, Senate Bill 485 would require a study on the impacts of cell phone bans and other policies in different elementary and secondary schools across the state. The bill has been referred to the Rules and Operations of the Senate Committee, where it has been for over a year.

CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the CityView News Fund.