Cell Phones in Schools: School Safety
Cell phone policies may prompt questions about school safety. Schools and districts should have discussions with families and students, emphasizing the impact of cell phones on school safety. Student cell phone use can create unsafe educational environments, leading to distraction, bullying, physical violence, and false security threats.
Families may want to contact their students quickly or have their students call for help or reach out to family members in an emergency. However, during emergencies, increases in calls and texts can potentially compromise safety.
The use of cell phones can decrease safety by:
- Spreading threats, misinformation, and rumors quickly.
- Ringing or vibrating during critical quiet times.
- Distracting students from listening to safety instructions.
- Complicating safe evacuation and emergency response.
- Delaying family-student reunification and exposing families to danger.
Emergency Management Considerations
Administrators and crisis team members as emergency management tools, and school staff should have access to communication devices to contact the school office should emergency conditions arise.
If schools choose to permit student cell phone use in an emergency, schools must describe the permission under the building's comprehensive emergency management plan. Schools may consider the following strategies to enhance safety with cell phones during emergencies:
- Integrate cell phone usage guidelines into the school safety plan;
- Inform students, families, and staff about the role of cell phones in maintaining safety in educational environments and the rules for their use during emergencies;
- Provide families with crisis communication plans and social media strategies that will be implemented in case of security incidents and emergencies; and
- Clarify the reunification procedure for families and students after a safety concern.
Resources for Safety
Other Toolkit Resources
Last Modified: 8/8/2025 11:33:52 AM