Weston Public Schools implementing new cellphone policy

When students return this year, the schools will be asking them to leave their cellphones at home.

As Weston Public Schools kick off the 2025-26 school year, the district is following in the footsteps of its peers around Massachusetts to restrict student cellphone and other personal electronic device use through a two-year phased approach.

The new policy, adopted on April 28 by the School Committee, prohibits pre-K through eighth grade students from using personal electronic devices during the school day. It allows high school students to use laptops during instructional time and, for this year only, permits them to use cellphones and other devices while transitioning between classes, during lunch and in scheduled free blocks.

Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, though, students will not be allowed to use any personal electronic devices during school hours. However, students in ninth through 12th grade will be able to use laptops. They will be required to place the devices in designated storage areas and regain access at the end of the school day.

While the committee was not acting in response to any particular request or event, School Committee Chair Adam Newman said the board wanted to lay out a clear electronic device policy aligned with the district’s goal of creating an engaging educational environment. The board adopted the policy after several months of discussion between school administration, faculty leaders and, once the initial policy was brought forward, families.

“We entered last year without a cellphone policy for the district and realized we needed to create a formal policy going forward,” Newman said. “Part of the driver of the cellphone policy was to create a culture and community that was more human-centered, not just to eliminate technology as a distraction.”

The policy defines electronic devices as cellphones, Bluetooth headphones, earbuds, smartwatches, tablets, laptops and gaming devices.

Pre-K through eighth grade students are encouraged to leave devices at home, but if they do bring them in, they will be required to turn them off and place them in a secure storage area until the end of the day. At the high school, students entering a classroom will be required to place devices, except for laptops, in a designated storage area.

Unlike other districts, Newman noted there was little concern about what an electronic device ban would mean for parents trying to reach their children, as the district has numerous ways to contact parents, including in emergency situations.

While “removing technology does not solve all the problems,” Newman said fewer distractions caused by cellphones will create an opportunity for a deeper conversation on how students, as well as community members, treat and engage each other in a “non-technologically-centered environment.”

“The kids are still going to have access to technology, it just won’t be during the school day,” Newman said. “It will be interesting to see, from an investment perspective, what decisions we’re faced with this year in order to continue to support the robust teaching and learning environment we want for students.”

Weston’s policy is similar to a growing number of others around the state and region. Newton prohibits students from using cellphones and other devices in school buildings, with the exception of specific areas. Individual Newton schools may have slightly different policies. At Concord-Carlisle High School, students must place their phones into a caddy as they enter classrooms to minimize disruptions, although they may use them between classes and during lunch.

Momentum to ban student cellphone use at schools is growing at the state level, too. In July, the Senate in July advanced Bill S.2581, An Act to Promote Student Learning and Mental Health, which would require all school districts to adopt a personal electronic device policy by the start of the 2026-27 school year. Those policies must include a “prohibition on the use and actual possession, strictly on their person, of a personal electronic device by a student during the school day.”

The “Act” requires the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to create a model policy to assist schools in developing and implementing policies of their own.