PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — Last May Florida Governor Ron DeSantis passed a law allowing schools to regulate student’s phone use.
“In the past, there’s always been a Florida statute that allows students to bring their cell phones on campus, and then there hasn’t been any law beyond that,” Bay District School Public Information Officer Sharon Michalik said. “So the schools have been battling students who have them out in class.”
Michalik said the district is hopeful the new law will help make a permanent change.
Students, however, are less optimistic.
“Last year they tried to do that and then they kind of like gave up like halfway through the year. So they just let us keep life on us,” Nathan Ponce said.
Michalik said the law applies to all grade levels and will be up to each school’s administration on how it is implemented.
Bay High School Senior Nathan Ponce said even though it’s still the first week of school he has already noticed change.
“It’s kind of sad because they’re treating us like children,” Ponce said. “You have to put it in this, like, plastic-like cubbyholes. And it’s up against a doorway, and you have to put it in there and take your phone card so we know where it is.”
Parents on the other hand are more in support of the change.
“I think they should have [their phones] at lunch or breaks or if there’s an emergency, but otherwise I think they need to focus on their education,” the grandmother of a Bay High School student Faye Owens said.
School officials said if parents need to reach their child they can call the school’s main office.
