Marc Wasko News Today

After Orange County Public Schools approved a new cell phone policy preventing students from using their phones during the school day, Timber Creek High School came up with ways to keep students engaged without their phones.

200,000 Florida students in the Orange County school district in Orlando had cell phones banned during the school day and found both grades improved and bullying decreased.

One afternoon in late September, hundreds of students at Timber Creek High School in Orlando poured into the campus’s sprawling central courtyard to hang out and eat lunch. For members of an extremely online generation, their activities were decidedly analog.

Schools in Orlando took a tougher approach than a new state law required. Student engagement increased. So did the hunt for contraband phones.

The ban went into effect in September, and has prohibited pupils in Orlandos Orange County public schools system from using their devices since.

Like many exasperated parents, public schools across the United States are adopting increasingly drastic measures to try to pry young people away from their cellphones.