The Shawnee Mission School District is set to implement a policy change that confirms the district will comply with a new state law banning cell phones from students’ possession during learning hours.

Policy Details

The law requires phones to be kept turned off in a location inaccessible to students during the school day, but does not restrict use in after-school activities. The policy under consideration repeats this language and encourages students to lock their cars, but says the district will not be held liable for theft or damage.

School officials had worked on the district’s own version of a phone ban for months, finalizing it early in 2025, only to have it superseded by the Kansas Legislature last year. The district’s ban would have set different phone usage rules by grade level.

Implementation and Concerns

Superintendent Michael Schumacher said he and members of the policy review committee had labored to find the right way to implement the change for the coming school year. They settled on reiterating the language of the law to avoid any incorrect interpretation.

Kim Whitman, co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood, advocated for a bell-to-bell ban on personal electronic devices in the classroom when Shawnee Mission was writing its policy last year. She expressed concerns about the way the district intends to comply with the state law, stating that families will say students aren’t bringing their phones to school, but they will anyway, and teachers will continue to have to police it.

Original reporting: Johnson County Post (Overland Park) — read the source article.