Massachusetts schools can now apply for a share of $1 million in new state grants meant to help them get cellphones out of classrooms, Governor Maura Healey announced last week. The money arrives as districts across the state, from the Pioneer Valley to Fall River, have already been rolling out their own phone restrictions, using everything from locked pouches to designated storage bins to keep devices out of students' hands during the school day.
What the New Grant Money Covers
According to Boston.com, the competitive Cell Phone-Free Schools grants can fund the development of cellphone policies, staff training, and the purchase of equipment such as phone pouches. Schools and districts have until October 21, 2026, to submit applications. The state says the grants are meant to help students focus on learning and build relationships, while reducing distractions and creating healthier learning environments, per the same report. A separate announcement on mass.gov describes the grants as intended to help Massachusetts schools reduce student cellphone use and create learning environments where students can focus on academics.
Healey framed the effort in personal terms. “Cell phones and social media have fundamentally changed the environment our kids are growing up in, and schools and families need the tools to respond,” she said, according to Boston.com's report. The grant program is funded through a $4.5 million state initiative focused on student support and well-being systems, which the outlet says centers on creating safe and supportive learning environments. That builds on earlier state spending: the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education already provided nearly $1.3 million to 77 districts for cellphone-related efforts during the 2023-2024 school year, per Boston.com.
Districts Already Ahead of the State
Long before this week's grant announcement, individual Massachusetts districts had been writing their own rules. The Pioneer Valley Regional School District School Committee unanimously approved a policy prohibiting cellphone use during the school day at Pioneer Regional School, Northfield Elementary School, and Bernardston Elementary School, according to the Recorder. Beginning in August 2024, students there were barred from using phones at any point in the school day, including lunch and passing periods, with each student required to place a turned-off phone into a locked magnetic Yondr pouch each morning. The district paid $15,000 for the pouches using funding from a state pilot grant, the paper reported, and said accommodations could be made for students with medical needs who require phone access.
Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District has also announced it will ban cellphone use in its schools, requiring students from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 to keep phones powered off or silenced and out of sight during the school day, Boston.com reported. The district said personal electronic devices create distractions that interfere with teaching, learning, and student engagement. Methuen and districts in Fall River are also among the Massachusetts communities cracking down on cellphone use, per the same report.
Yondr Pouches, Phone Jails, and Storage Bins
The approaches vary widely from district to district. Greenfield's public schools instituted the use of Yondr magnetic pouches back in 2022, while Mohawk Trail Regional School expanded its cellphone pilot from middle school into the high school, according to the Recorder. Staff at both schools have since reported seeing increased student focus and engagement since the ban took effect, per the Athol Daily News.
Elsewhere, Fall River's School Committee approved rules in August 2024 prohibiting cellphone use for students in grades 6 through 12, and beginning that September, middle and high schoolers there had to turn in their phones or lock them in special pouches for the day, according to the Herald News. Frontier Regional School District took a lighter approach, requiring high school students to store phones in containers or charging racks during class rather than adopting a full-day ban, the Athol Daily News reported. Newton Public Schools, meanwhile, eliminated cellphones entirely for K-8 students and during class periods for high schoolers starting in the 2024-25 school year, according to WGBH, which also lists Brockton, Lowell, Salem, Needham, Methuen, and Fall River among districts that have implemented bans for some or all students.
By this past May, most school districts across Central Massachusetts had already acted by banning or restricting cellphone use, according to MassLive. Many use an “off and away” policy, with phones turned off and put away during the day, while four districts — Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School in Charlton, Northbridge Public Schools, Webster Middle School, and Winchendon Public Schools — rely on Yondr pouches. At least six others, including Dudley-Charlton Regional School District, Grafton Public Schools, Milford Public Schools, Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School, North Brookfield Public Schools, and West Boylston Public Schools, use designated storage areas sometimes called phone jails. Milford's policy allows students with an approved health plan, such as those managing diabetes, to keep using their devices in class for that purpose, MassLive reported. Most of these Central Massachusetts policies also include exemptions for medical and special education reasons, per the outlet.
The Research Behind the Push
The pressure to act isn't coming from nowhere. A fall 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 72% of U.S. high school teachers said cellphone distraction was a major problem in their classrooms, according to Pew Research Center. A 2024 Auburn University study cited by WGBH found that removing cellphones from students' possession during the school day improved social interaction in class between students.
Where Statewide Legislation Stands
Massachusetts currently has no statewide cellphone ban, according to Boston.com, even as lawmakers have moved pieces of legislation forward. The Massachusetts Senate approved legislation in 2025 implementing a statewide bell-to-bell cellphone ban in K-12 schools, which would apply during the 2026-2027 school year, Boston.com reported. Under that Senate measure, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would be required to create model guidelines within 180 days to help districts craft their own cellphone policies, with districts able to choose among options such as pouches, lockers, or other storage methods, according to the Massachusetts Legislature.
The Massachusetts House took its own approach in 2026, passing a bill that adds social-media restrictions on top of a school cellphone ban. That bill would bar children under 14 from using social media altogether and would require 14- and 15-year-olds to obtain parental consent before using it, per Boston.com. A separate House measure would direct the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to issue a request for proposals for a pilot program allowing up to 10 districts to use technology that renders personal electronic devices inoperable on school grounds during the school day, according to the Massachusetts Legislature. The House bill has been sent back to the Senate for further consideration and remains under review there, Boston.com reported.
