Anticipating a state mandate to ban cell phones at schools, District 233 administrators are investigating how to prepare for the directive.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants Illinois to join 35 other states that ban cell phones during the school day, with a few exceptions. The legislation was proposed in 2025 but didn’t pass the Illinois House. This legislative session the bill is likely to become law.

Administrators are finding that the current policy on cell phone restrictions at Homewood-Flossmoor High School won’t be applicable when the Illinois legislature approves a bill that will ban students from having cell phones during the school day.

Superintendent Jennifer Norrell brought the issue before the board’s Planning Committee March 3. She said the current H-F cell phone restrictions allow students to keep their phones out of sight in class. If a student has in infraction, the phone is taken from the student. A second infraction and the student reports to the dean’s office and the consequences are more substantial.

The policy has been in place since August 2024, but the H-F Parents Organization recently found that the cell phone policy wasn’t as strong as it first was. Principal Clint Alexander told the Chronicle that the policy is implemented by classroom teachers, and some are stricter about it than others.

“The whole concept around (H-F implementation) that everyone will keep it and making sure that we’re monitoring it. How’s that going? I think our teachers are requesting that we put some stronger things in place,” Norrell said.

Should legislation pass this session, implementation for a total ban during the school day will begin in August. Again, implementation will depend on the classroom teacher.

Norrell said she sees the state’s objective as understanding the importance of making sure that cell phones are not a distraction and acknowledged that research shows students developing an addiction to cell phones.

One suggestion is to purchase lock boxes for each classroom. A box would have 36 individual slots for students to store phones. Each student would get a key for their individual slot.  The teacher would have a security key that in an emergency would open the entire lock box.

Planning Committee members say it is a complicated issue, but Pam Jackson says she’s “a 100% proponent for no cell phones” during the school day. 

“How do you trust the kids to lock them up?” Jackson wondered.

Member Nate Legardy said he expects parents will start complaining about the state ban.

Norrell said she was bringing the issue to the committee for discussion because she believes districts will be clamoring for ways to meet a new state mandate and she wants District 233 to be prepared.

Committee members agreed the administrative team should get costs of lock boxes and investigate other options to be presented to the school board.

Alexander said even though the legislation is mandating cell phones, teachers could still face distractions from Apple watches and glasses that allow wearers to get text messages.

“If we make that (lock box) investment in the classroom, we still have to deal with the watches with the BlueTooth connection and the possibility of any watches and glasses disrupting classes,” he said.

The District 233 school board in January agreed to set a policy that restricts Meta glasses. Norrell said teachers had been raising issues about the glasses, but she was especially alarmed when she tested Ray Ban’s Meta glasses and found that the wearer could take pictures without others being aware that they were being photographed. She said it raised serious questions about privacy and security risks.