Bowie ISD educator weighs in on TEA Commissioner phone ban proposal

BOWIE, Texas (KAUZ) - “Cell phones are extremely harmful for student learning”, was a comment TEA Commissioner Mike Morath made at the most recent Senate Education Committee Hearing calling for phones to be banned across the state in schools.

We spoke with the Bowie ISD Superintendent and he said that he is not fully against Morath’s call for a phone ban.

Morath made this call for a cell phone ban last Wednesday. Currently, Bowie ISD is already doing something similar to a phone ban.

Restricting the usage of phones during school hours, we spoke with Blake Enlow, he said he can understand the need for a phone ban.

“You know, I definitely see where there’s a need to do something about keeping them out of the classroom and disrupting the learning environment.” Bowie Superintendent Blake Enlow said.

Last Wednesday, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said next year lawmakers should ban the use of cell phones in public schools across the state.

“If it were in my power, I would have already banned them in all schools in the state. So, I would encourage you to consider that as a matter of public policy going forward for our students and our teachers,” Morath stated.

The no phone usage policy isn’t just for school zones in Bowie ISD, but it’s for the classrooms as well.

“We’ve taken the teacher’s discretion out of it a little bit. We used to let the teachers kind of decide. Because the cell phone in the ending of itself is a tool, if it can be used correctly in the classroom setting, however, as we’ve seen in schools and not only just schools just anywhere phones can become a distraction.” Enlow explained.

Students are instructed to use campus laptops to complete assignments. Phones can only be used during lunch and passing periods.

“Me as a parent making sure I don’t text my kid during class. I think that that’s kind of an adjustment for some people because they’ll say I need to text my kid this for legitimate reasons, but making sure that they realize that in the classroom they’ll be put up for 45 minutes to an hour. This morning, one of the teachers I asked, just curious, and they said, ‘No, it’s been pretty good. It’s making a positive impact.” Enlow shared.

Morath cites that as cell phone usage has gone up national student achievement has gone down in math and reading

“We haven’t looked specifically at cell phone usage entitled to achievement scores. We just see the boots on the ground stuff that the more they have them the more they’re not paying attention to what they doing so the assumption would be that they aren’t doing as well.” He said.

Enlow said if this was to be put in place it wouldn’t be hard for the district to adjust.

“I don’t think it impacts us completely, as far as a big change for us, and most school districts are trying to do something along the lines. I think it would just uniform the practice across the state. I think that’s all it would do. I think it’s good they are catching that there are some issues, but I think it’s going to be a joint effort going forward.” He explained.

While Morath did share his views on the issues of cell phones in the classroom, he did not go into detail about what his next steps are.