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Over the summer, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed Executive Order 25-09, where all K-12 schools in the state must implement a policy to prohibit student phone usage by Oct. 31, or at the latest Jan. 1.
Donald Bredehoeft, senior at Oregon City High School (OCHS), believes that the executive order is a positive for students.
“I’m 99% to 100% in favor of [the executive order],” Bredehoeft said. “Phones are pretty much unequivocally detrimental to students’ mental health and academic performance, and this will help deal with that issue.”
In previous years, OCHS has implemented their phone policy called “Bell to Bell, no Cell.” Bredehoeft believes that just having your phone in your bag or locker can help improve performance and mental health.
“I think the pros of the executive order are pretty clear in the research. It’s been shown that just having your phone actually reduces your cognitive performance. Thornton in 2014 and Ward in 2017 both found this result. So having the phones off and away, in lockers and backpacks, should help people perform better in class,” Bredehoeft said. “Additionally, I think it would be beneficial for the mental health of students. There was Abrahamson 2024, that [showed] banning phones in schools did improve mental health, specifically of girls in that study, but that was because girls use their phones and social media much more.”
Harrison Cheng, senior at West Linn High School, doesn’t agree with the executive order and believes that there’ll be difficulties in enforcing the new policy and creating tension.
“There’s trouble about how they’re gonna enforce it. You have like 2,000 students, and you have maybe 100 faculty members, and I don’t know how much they’re gonna use that task force, on putting phones away,” Cheng said. “It could cause a lot of strife. So we’ll just see how soon we react to it, but it could change.”
Currently, the West Linn-Wilsonville School District is achieving their part of the phone policy through the “Off and Away All Day” policy. In this policy, all usage of personal devices, such as cell phones, watches, and tablets are not allowed on campus during school hours. After Oct. 1, if any offenses are committed, students will have their phones confiscated, and their parents will have to pick up the phone. Community service hours may be required if offenses continue.
“I agreed it would help students, but I feel like phones are already such a core part of teenagers,” Cheng said. “Nowadays, I feel like it would just cause a lot of strife and disorientation, but maybe people could learn from that as the phone ban continues to be enforced.”
For a more in-depth look into the opinions of Cheng and Bredehoeft, listen to the latest episode of the West Linn Weekly Wake Up, hosted by Multimedia Editor Garrett Arendt and Copy Editor-in-Chief Clara Wood. Music by Nicholas Hull.
