A bill that would impose a statewide bell-to-bell cellphone ban in public schools cleared the state House of Representatives Monday by a vote of 117-31.
Twenty Republicans joined most Democrats in passing House Bill 5035, which prohibits students across Connecticut from using cellphones on school grounds during the school day. What exactly students do with those phones whether they keep them in backpacks, for example, or store them in locked pouches would remain a question for individual districts. The bill makes exceptions for students with specialized learning plans, such as IEPs and 504 plans.
The ban has been a priority this year for both legislative Democrats and Gov. Ned Lamont, who raised the issue at his State of the State address in February. Proponents say phones, and especially the social media apps they run, are distracting, addictive and ripe for abuse. Many draw inspiration from Jonathan Haidts bestselling book The Anxious Generation, which connects phone use with a devastating rise in youth mental health disorders.
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