ALTOONA — Students across schools in the state of Wisconsin are now being asked to put their phones away. Or at the very least, schools are now being required to look at their cell phone policies according to state legislation.
With the passing of a bipartisan bill on Oct. 31, Act 42 now requires public school districts to adopt policies that generally prohibit the usage of wireless communication devices during school. Therefore, these changes also consider other devices like personal computers and tablet usage in schools.
School district-issued electronic devices would be okay and the rules may also include exemptions for devices in the event of an emergency, a student’s health-related reasons or educational purposes.
Under the bill, school districts are required to adopt a wireless communication device policy by July 1, 2026. Mandating this makes Wisconsin the 36th state in the country to do so.
While the story may be different for each school district, many Wisconsin districts do have some sort of policy in place that mentions the usage of cell phones. In a Wisconsin Policy Forum report done in May 2025, the level of these policies was tracked and measured with responses from 309 of the state’s 421 public school districts. Only 9.7% of districts had a no-restrictions policy in place, while 20.7% had what was considered a full ban of cellular devices.
The School District of Altoona’s preexisting cell phone policy falls somewhere in the intermediate category.
“That was initially adopted by our Board of Education in 1990, with an amendment in 2010 and 2021,” School District of Altoona Superintendent Heidi Eliopoulos said.
Published every year in their student handbook, rule 443.5 on the usage of electronic communication devices really only allows the usage of devices in high school common areas.
“We already had a cell phone policy in place,” Eliopoulos said, “we had for quite some time, and it was effective for the purpose that we had it. Our general rule about cell phones is that they stay in lockers through eighth grade. In high school, they’re unseen and unheard in the classroom setting, and then occasionally can be accessed for things like an instructional application or other types of instructional use. Our policy language says, ‘at the discretion of the teacher.’”
Although many other school districts are in a similar situation of already having these rules, it is likely that most schools, including Altoona, will be looking at the language of their policy ahead of next summer. Making a policy decision like this will require local school board action during public meetings, sometimes hosting readings of the policy and public comment at that time.
Eliopoulos said she expects that many districts will receive some sample language for cell phone policy in the next several months.
“If there is a case law change or if there is a statutory change, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards provides some recommended language to school boards so they can update their policies locally,” she said.
“There’s really two pieces of that; we’ll get some recommendations from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and the attorneys that they have on staff. And in cases where we have policies that haven’t been changed through case law or statutory changes locally, we review them every five years, just in case we have something that is outdated and we need to make some updates.”
At this time as districts are being asked to look into cell phone policy, there are still people on both sides of the argument for cell phone bans in school.
A Pew Research survey released in 2024 found that roughly 68% of U.S. adults support a ban on phone usage in middle and high school classrooms. Among the 32% of parents who opposed restrictions, 60% said the biggest reason was because “parents should be able to reach their child when needed.”
The growing usage of cell phones in schools is also a concern for districts, as the Wisconsin Policy Forum report found that 72% of high school teachers responding to their survey said students being distracted by cell phones was a “major problem in their classroom.”
Eliopoulos said she is thankful that Act 42 is not mandating a full ban, as a policy in that regard may not be in every district’s interest. The School District of Altoona’s goal, and likely other districts’ goals, is to show how to appropriately use these devices.
“I think there’s a need for some level of expectations and guidance,” Eliopoulos said. “I would put cell phone use in the same category as a lot of things that we do at schools. We think of schools as the place where we teach academic preparation and we focus on scholarly growth, and that is our primary role. The reality is we’re also teaching young people how to be part of a community. And right now, they’re part of our school community, and someday they’ll be as an adult part of the greater community in a different role than they have now.”
