The state of South Carolina has been trying to ban phones in schools for a while. In January 2023, a bill was introduced to the SC House of Representatives, with the summary “Cellphone ban in public school classrooms.” [1] This is the bill that I, and presumably others, assumed was the “cell phone ban.” It is, in fact, still the first government related result you get when you google “SC cell phone ban.” But this bill hasn’t seen any progress since last January, and is presumed dead in committee. This bill modified a previous law that required all school districts to have a policy regulating paging devices, and simply changed any mention of “paging device” to “wireless electronic communication device,” (which includes cell phones and other similar devices,) and added the line “At a minimum, this policy must prohibit the use of wireless electronic communication devices in classrooms during periods of academic instruction.” [1] Now, let’s be completely honest here: this is completely reasonable. We all know we shouldn’t be on our phones while the teacher is actively teaching, and this bill leaves most of the policy up to the district to decide and enforce.

In March of 2024, the General Assembly of South Carolina tried a new method to get the policy passed. The new cell phone ban is not a bill, nor a new law, but a budget proviso. A budget proviso, for the unaware, is a clause in the state budget that has to be followed for the funds to properly be allocated. The first draft of the budget is written by the House Ways and Means Committee, who included proviso 1.103, which requires all school districts to “implement a policy that prohibits the use of personal electronic communication devices by students during direct classroom instructional time,” and if they don’t, they lose their funding. [2 (pg.20)] The definition of ‘personal electronic communication device’ is slightly different, but functionally, this has the same effect as the failed bill. This version of the budget was passed by the House, and then went to the Senate Finance Committee in April. This is where the policy starts sounding scarier.  Two changes were made to the wording of the proviso: the policy has to be first adopted by the State Board of Education, and they changed ‘instructional time’ to ‘the school day.’ [3 (pg.20)]

This new version of the proviso was passed by the Senate, passed again in the House, and was ratified by the General Assembly on June 26, 2024. [4] In the Governor’s Veto Message, (where he also provides some commentary on the budget), SC Governor McMaster “commend[s]” the General Assembly for this proviso. [5 (pg.2)] As he mentions in the message, for the past 4 years, in his recommendations for the budget (the ‘Executive Budget’), he included a proviso that banned phones in school, but like the bill, it was only during “direct classroom instructional time.” [6 (pg.36)]

Because of the Senate Finance Committee’s changes, instead of each district deciding their own policy, they have to adopt the policy of the State Board of Education. They decided the model policy on August 13th. [7] It bans accessing all ‘personal electronic devices’ from the tardy bell to dismissal. Yes, by this policy, you cannot use your phone at lunch. You technically can’t even touch it, as “holding” is included in the law’s definition of “access.” It also specifies that ‘device accessories’ are included, which mostly just seems to be a way to include earbuds. By this policy, you cannot use your airpods, yes, even at lunch. I highly recommend simply reading the policy in its entirety, it’s only two pages: [8].

This policy is only the bare minimum that the district has to adopt. It gives the option to expand the ban to buses and field trips. One thing it doesn’t specify is where the device has to be stored, it leaves that up to the district. But it also gives the district the option to completely ban devices from school grounds entirely. It also doesn’t specify any punishments for violating the policy, leaving it to the district’s code of conduct and “disciplinary enforcement procedures.” [8]

But here’s the thing: it’s very easy to figure out which enforcement procedures CCSD would use, Infraction 330, “Cell Phone.” Yes, CCSD already has a cell phone policy. It is already against CCSD rules to use your cell phone. Quoting the Progressive Discipline Plan, it is a Level 1 infraction to have “access to personal electronic communication devices by students during the school day.” [9 (pg.4)] This policy, like the model policy by the State Board of Education, bans phones during the entire school day. It also says this applies “on a school bus, at the bus stop, or any other mode of transportation;” in the header of the Level 1 section, but it is unclear if this is overridden by, or included in, “during the school day.”

So, if using your phone is already against district policy, what will actually change for AMHS students? Well, policy-wise, almost nothing. (Probably.) The current CCSD policy is very similar to that of the State Board of Education, but is slightly less thorough, and the proviso requires all districts to adopt the Board’s policy, and the Board’s policy only allows districts to increase how strict it is. But the fact is, CCSD already has a strict policy against the use of cell phones: it is simply not being enforced.

So the only possible change is going to be in enforcement. There’s no way to predict this besides asking every teacher and faculty in the school what they will do, but here are the possibilities:

1. Teachers and faculty don’t change their behavior at all, and everything stays the same. This is, unfortunately in the minds of many, quite unlikely.
2. Some teachers, and most of the admin, will try to enforce the rules more strictly than before. . The more ‘chill’ teachers will keep letting us use our phones after class, and during study hall, but more will start making us put our cell phones in a storage area or in our bags. You’ll probably still be safe using it at lunch.
3. The final option is what many dread, a strict crackdown on having your phone at all. This will have to be enforced by the admin, and they’ll probably require everyone to keep it in their lockers or bags all day. This seems to be in line with what the Board and State want to happen. I believe that this goes a bit too far, but the reason any of this happened in the first place was due to complaints of teachers, who didn’t want to have to be the ones telling kids to get off their phones, and I honestly understand that. [10]

While the third option is probably going to happen in some CCSD schools, I think the culture of Magnet, where the faculty accept that the students usually behave and don’t need to be strictly governed, will prevent it. Also, if enforced to the fullest extent, the CCSD Progressive Discipline Plan punishments for cell phone use are as follows:

• An admin/parent contact on the first two offenses
• Confiscation for the day and admin/parent conference on the third
• Confiscation and a Mandatory District Approved School Probation Contract (yes, that’s a thing,) and all future offenses count as “Refusal to Obey”
• Fifth offense is a one-day in school suspension
• On the sixth, two-day out of school suspension, and a bunch of complicated sounding meetings with your parents
• On the seventh, it’s a three day suspension, meetings, and A Warning.
• And on the eighth, along with a 5 day suspension, you get a hearing to get Expelled. [9 (pg.10)]

Will this ever happen to any of us? No. There’d be riots in the halls and it sounds like a lot of paperwork. My advice to the students of Magnet? Be nice to your teachers and stay off your phones in class, and they’ll probably be more lenient when the ‘cell phone ban’ comes around.