Democracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion Ban cellphones in schools? Teachers and a student weigh in.

Two teachers feel relief, but a student says they’re not the real problem. Plus, progress on sports betting should be celebrated.

May 19, 2024 at 4:24 p.m. EDT
A Silver Line train in Dulles on Nov. 15, 2022. (Eric Lee for The Washington Post)
8 min

Regarding the May 8 front-page article “How the call to ban cellphones went through at one school”:

As a retired Montgomery County Public Schools teacher, student phones were a major factor in my decision to close out my teaching career.

Unless there is an expansive effort, no one parent is going to put their child in the position of being the only one of their friends without a phone. Socially, it would be devastating. The irony is that phone use is preventing healthy social interaction.