With the House of Representatives fast tracking House Bill 1276, the cell phone bill, students are expressing their concerns.
The “Bell to Bell: No Cell” bill has continued to move forward, having been approved by both the Oklahoma Common Education Committee and the off the House of Representatives floor, which happened just last week. The bill will now go to the Oklahoma Senate for approval.
Justin Bettencourth, seventh-grade, said he thinks the bill will ban cell phone at school because they can be a distraction.
However, Bettencourth doesn’t want cell phones banned because he think students should have access to their phones, especially for safety reasons. He said cell phone could also come in handy for classwork if a student forgets his or her Chromebook.
Bettencourth isn’t alone in this thought.
Eighth-grade Jaelyn Irby said she does not want cell phone to be banned at school because she thinks students should be allowed to have them at all time and in case of an emergency.
Irby said she thinks phones can help students when they have questions to look up.
Noah Mitchel, a sixth-grader, also thinks cell phones should not be banned.
Mitchel said he understands that phones may be banned because they can be a distraction to the learning process, especially with students having them out too much. However, he thinks there are reasons why students should have their phones, including contacting parents and guardians quickly.
He also said he thinks students should get to use phones in class.
Similar to the other students, Braylynn Brown also thinks cell phone should not be banned from school.
Brown said cell phones can be used to contact the police or family if there is an emergency. He also thinks phones can be used to look up information quickly, and have real world applications, not just as school.
