Assemblyman Reuben D’Silva is an 11th grade U.S. history teacher at Rancho High School. He says one of his biggest challenges is students using their cellphones during class. 

“You’re pretty much competing against [the phones] for the students’ attention. Some students just do not give a damn at all. They’re just like, ‘You know I’m on my video game here. That’s what I’m doing. I know there’s a news segment we’re watching or there’s a classroom conversation taking place, but I just don’t care.’

“There’s no way of penalizing a student or getting that student to put their phone away, because they know that there’s no official policy,” D’Silva says.

But that could all change with a new initiative the school district is rolling out to reduce distractions and improve student learning and achievement. The Clark County School District announced that starting with the 2024-25 school year, students in grades 6-12 must place personal electronic devices in nonlocking, signal-blocking pouches during classroom instruction.

CCSD is not the only school district where policies restricting students’ phone use are taking hold. The Los Angeles Unified School District in June passed a ban on cellphones in classrooms that will go into effect in January. Also in June, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a statewide ban on cellphones in class. Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin went as far as issuing an executive order limiting students’ cellphone use in classrooms. And since last year, legislatures in Florida, Ohio and Indiana have passed laws restricting cellphone use in class.

Leaders expect less cellphone time will mean less distractions and improvements in academic performance and even students’ mental health. CCSD officials say positive results have already been observed in schools that have piloted the cellphone pouches.

“Ten schools piloted the cell phone pouches last year with success leading us to expand the program to all our secondary schools,” CCSD Interim Superintendent Dr. Brenda Larsen-Mitchell said in a statement. “Every minute of instruction is important for student learning, and studies clearly show that cellphones distract students.”

According to a 2023 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring report looking at pre-primary through higher education in 14 countries, smartphones distract students from learning. One study cited in the report found that it can take a student up to 20 minutes after receiving a notification to refocus on what they were learning once distracted.

Teachers aren’t the only ones worried about those distractions. Parents also are concerned about cellphones’ impact on learning and mental health.

“We are concerned about limiting distractions in the classroom and the detrimental effects to learning, classroom activities and students’ mental health,” reads a partial statement from Nevada PTA President Elect Meredith Freeman. “Nevada PTA supports the CCSD initiative to use phone pouches in schools.”

Some parents have raised concerns about safety and being able to reach their child in an emergency. According to CCSD, students will be allowed to use their phones in between classes, during lunch and bus transportation and would be allowed to access them during emergencies and lockdowns.

D’Silva says he can see only positive outcomes from restricting cellphone use in classrooms, and that it would improve the learning environment substantially.

“This is a big deal. If we can pull this off, we will for sure see productivity levels increase in the classroom, unquestionably. We’ll have more attention focused on what’s going on in terms of the learning environment. There’ll be fewer distractions. This is going to be nothing but a good thing, if we can pull it off,” he says.

Students’ attachments to their phones—which are developed over years—cannot be so easily broken with a mere phone pouch, though. D’Silva acknowledges there will be challenges with implementing the districtwide initiative.

“It’s going to be a challenge, and students could go through withdrawal symptoms. … It could be an issue to a student who now has to disattach, and could have some kind of visceral, physical reaction to breaking away from the cellphone,” he says.

There will always be students who won’t comply. So administrative support will be key in implementing the new phone rules. D’Silva compares the initiative to another initiative his school implemented requiring students to carry their school ID with them. Kids were noncompliant at first, but after a year, staff were finally able to “normalize” the ID requirement. He expects a similar rollout for the phone pouches.

“We can’t allow students to get away with not putting their phones away. If a teacher asks for help from administration saying, ‘Hey, I have a certain student or group of students who are not abiding by this policy,’ then we really need the administration to put their foot down and help in that instance,” D’Silva says.

As a state lawmaker, the assemblyman says he would be open to, but does not see a need to, legislate a statewide policy to restrict cellphones in class.

“I think right now, the approach is about leaving the decisions up to the districts, and let’s see how this plays out over the next year, two or three years,” he says. 

“There are going to be some growing pains. [But] this is the digital age. We’re going to have to deal with these sorts of issues more seriously.”

Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!