Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Elementary District 181 officials are looking into if any changes will be made to the district’s existing cellphone policy to meet the standards of a new state mandate signed into law July 28 by Gov. JB Pritzker.
The new state law requires all public schools to have a strict “bell-to-bell” ban, with no phone use allowed during the entire school day for grades kindergarten through eighth grade.
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District 181 already has a policy that states cellphones and similar electronic devices will be collected by a teacher in all its elementary schools, and kept in a student’s locker in the middle schools, during the regular school day and while attending school-sponsored activities, with limited exceptions.
All public elementary schools must be compliant with the new standard by the beginning of the 2027-28 school year. The Illinois State Board of Education is expected to release a model policy by Sept. 1, said Karen O’Connor, District 181’s communications director.
“District 181 will review the new law, the forthcoming ISBE guidance, and our current policies and practices to determine whether changes are necessary,” she said. “Any policy development will include input from teachers, administrators, and parents or guardians, as required by the law.”
The existing District 181 policy prohibits students from using cellphones or other electronic devices to take pictures or record school personnel or fellow students without authorization.
At Clarendon Hills Middle School and Hinsdale Middle School, the cellphone disciplinary protocol involves a yearly first warning for which the device is held in the office and returned at the end of the day, O’Connor said. A second occurrence requires a parent to come to pick up the phone.
“Students are sometimes permitted to use their cellphones for specific, approved special projects like digital media or video creations for a class,” O’Connor said.
Hinsdale Middle School principal Cory Burke previously said that in an era of total digital immersion, the classroom must serve as a sanctuary for focus.
“Our policy isn’t about restriction; it’s about creating the cognitive space necessary for students to trade constant connectivity for deep, meaningful engagement,” she said.
The new state law is considered a key political win for Pritzker, who initially fell short on his push for the policy change last year.
He reintroduced his support for a cellphone ban in schools earlier this year during his State of the State address. His tweaked version of the bill expanded the ban from instructional time to a bell-to-bell policy.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.