Broward County high school students will soon be able to use their cellphones again during lunch.
The School Board voted 5-4 on Tuesday to amend a policy that had prohibited student cellphone use from the morning bell until dismissal. Starting Wednesday, high schoolers will be allowed to talk, text, browse the web and listen to music during their lunch period.
Cellphones will remain banned all day for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, in accordance with a new state law. That law also bars students in all grades from using their phones during instructional periods unless a teacher specifically authorizes them for academic purposes. School districts, however, have discretion in setting rules for non-instructional times at the high school level.
The district’s K-12 cellphone ban, approved last year, was intended to address concerns about the negative effects of excessive cellphone use. Board members cited national research linking cellphone overuse to academic, mental, and social challenges.
But a Florida Atlantic University study evaluating Broward’s policy found more nuanced results. While some teachers and administrators reported anecdotal benefits from the restrictions, researchers found “no conclusive evidence connecting the policy to improved academic achievement or mental health outcomes.”
Five board members ultimately supported relaxing the rule after complaints from students and parents and reports from administrators who said enforcing the lunch ban was difficult on large high school campuses.
“I believe there is adequate research to suggest that excessive use of cellphones is problematic,” said board member Jeff Holness, who voted in favor of the policy change. “However, limited use of cellphones during lunch time, which will probably be about 15 to 20 minutes at most, can also be beneficial. There are arguments on both sides.”
Holness was joined by Chairwoman Debbi Hixon and board members Rebecca Thompson, Maura Bulman, and Lori Alhadeff. They pointed out that the district has embraced technology in other ways — including launching an artificial intelligence program with Microsoft and approving an initiative to provide laptops to students later this school year.
“I don’t know that we can celebrate AI and then be super dismissive and critical of other technologies,” Bulman said. “That just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
The four dissenting board members — Adam Cervera, Sarah Leonardi, Nora Rupert, and Allen Zeman — opposed the change, arguing the district should maintain its stricter approach.
Superintendent Howard Hepburn, who had championed the original ban, said his views remain unchanged.
Hepburn acknowledged that many students disagree with him but said he’s heard troubling feedback from local business leaders who claim students “are socially inept” and “don’t know how to collaborate and communicate with each other.”
“Not to mention all the social ills that segue into our schools with social media, using their free time at school also,” Hepburn said.
In other business Tuesday, the School Board announced that Marylin Batista, a longtime district attorney, will resign as general counsel. Her last day will be January 9.
