My School Banned Phones for the Year. Here's What Happened

Today, we’re sharing one of the most compelling and entertaining essays we’ve read on what happens when a school goes phone-free. The essay is written by Gilbert Schuerch, a veteran high school teacher in Harlem, NYC. He is also the writer of the Substack, Fit To Teach, where he shares stories from inner city public education and muses on the nature of teaching. In this piece, Gilbert shares how he and his colleagues figured out that simple classroom phone bans weren’t enough—so they implemented a bell-to-bell phone free policy requiring students to lock their phones away at the start of the school day. The result is a enticing glimpse of what is possible when adults hold the line and how, pretty quickly, kids can rediscover life without a distraction machine in their pockets. – Zach Share By Gilbert Schuerch [This essay is republished from the Fit to Teach Substack.] “Screen time check!” I barked out at my health class. They sighed, took out their phones, and opened up their screen tr

Today, we’re sharing one of the most compelling and entertaining essays we’ve read on what happens when a school goes phone-free. The essay is written by Gilbert Schuerch, a veteran high school teacher in Harlem, NYC. He is also the writer of the Substack, Fit To Teach, where he shares stories from inner city public education and muses on the nature of teaching. In this piece, Gilbert shares how he and his colleagues figured out that simple classroom phone bans weren’t enough—so they implemented a bell-to-bell phone free policy requiring students to lock their phones away at the start of the s