As schools struggle with if and how to regulate cellphones, Woodstock District 200 reviews its rules

Amid nationwide worries about the impact of cellphones on young people, Woodstock District 200 officials took time this week to consider if they need to change theirs.

The school board took up the issue about a month into the school year, though they made no plans to revise their rules.

District 200′s current policies for students are no phones at any time at the elementary school level, while in middle school phones are not allowed to be out during the school day. High school students can use their phones during times like passing periods, lunch hour and study hall, and teachers have discretion on use in class, District 200 Superintendent Mike Moan said in a school board meeting Tuesday.

In McHenry County, some districts have been cracking down on cellphone use during school this school year. Crystal Lake-based District 155 is enforcing its policy of cellphones off and out of sight during the school day, while McHenry High School District 156 has a policy similar to what District 200 has for the high schoolers.

The discussion in Woodstock came Tuesday evening, while a similar debate about cellphones in school takes place nationwide.

Earlier this week, California became the latest state to regulate cellphones at school, joining other states such as Florida, Louisiana and Indiana. In California, school districts will have to limit or ban students from using smartphones on school campuses or when they’re supervised by school staff. They’ll have to have policies in place by July 1, 2026, and update the policies every five years, according to the Associated Press.

The use of cellphones in schools isn’t always an easy yes-or-no question.

McHenry County Regional Superintendent of Schools Diana Hartmann said sometimes there’s a need to use cellphone apps in class.

Apps students might need include Quizlet or Kahoot, Hartmann said. Quizlet allows users to make study materials such as flashcards, while Kahoot allows students to learn content and play review games in class. In Kahoot, teacher can make multiple choice review materials, and students use their phones to select what they think is the correct answer.

Hartmann said typically in high schools, and when she was a high school educator, rules weren’t “unanimous” on cellphone use. Some teachers are more permissive about cellphone use. Students’ age can factor in on the appropriateness of phones; Hartmann said, for instance, a first grader doesn’t need a cellphone, while it’s “not really plausible” to ban cellphones for a junior in high school.

During the Woodstock school board discussion, board member John Headley, himself a former District 200 educator, brought up the cellphone policy.

Headley said several teachers reached out to him about their unease about having to enforce cellphone use rules.

“They feel like [they have] to be the police of cellphones. They don’t feel that’s their job or role,” Headley, adding teachers across the country had said the same thing.

Board member Bruce Farris said he wasn’t opposed to kids having cellphones and thought the current policies the district has are “great” but later added there should be consequences if someone breaks the rules.

“When I was a kid, they smoked in the bathroom,” Farris said, adding now it’s kids trying to use cellphones. “There’s things you’re not supposed to do and you try to get away with.”

Some on the board also talked about social media.

Last school year, some McHenry County school districts, including Cary School District 26, District 155 and Huntley Community School District 158, joined national lawsuits against social media companies such as Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok.

Officials in District 26 said at the time they had hired more social workers to deal with students’ mental health, but said it wasn’t 100% tied to social media. District 26 also saw bathrooms vandalized during a national TikTok trend encouraging students to vandalize bathrooms.

District 158 Superintendent Jessica Lombard wrote in a memo to the school board in January when the district opted into the lawsuit: “Social media has had an adverse impact on the mental health of children, especially young adults, across the nation that is creating a challenge that school districts are facing and having to address at an increasing rate.”

Back in Woodstock, Headley said mental health “correlates heavily” with social media. According to to Associated Press reporting, kids who are on social media for three or more hours per day face double the risk of depression and anxiety. Moan said during the discussion he thought social media was an issue in this country.

Board member Jacob Homuth asked if the district talks about mental health and social media in health classes.

Moan said there was more that the district can do to educate people and he can look into that and bring his findings back to the school board.