Personal Communication Devices
The Phone-Free School Day
No Buds. No Phones. No Problems!
Beginning with the 2026–27 school year, phones are powered off in every Holmen High School classroom. Here’s why we made this decision, and what the research says happens next.
“Buds” = earbuds. AirPods, earbuds, and headphones are part of the same distraction — they’re put away during the school day too.
Why We Made This Change
School Should Be Where Kids Are Fully Present
This decision isn’t about phones being bad. It’s about school being better. When phones and earbuds are away, students look up — at their teachers, at their work, and at each other. Conversations return to the lunch table. Attention returns to the classroom. And the constant pull of notifications, group chats, and social media gets left at the door.
We didn’t make this decision lightly. Our staff studied the research, learned from districts across the country, and worked with regional mental-health partners through the Be Here campaign. The evidence kept pointing the same direction: a phone-free school day means better focus, stronger friendships, and healthier kids.
“Every minute a student spends managing a phone is a minute they’re not learning, laughing, or connecting.”
The Numbers Behind the Decision
What Phones Do to a School Day
These aren’t opinions — they’re findings from national researchers who tracked what actually happens on students’ phones during school hours.
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Notifications a Day
The median teen receives 237 pings per day — and about 1 in 4 arrive during school hours.
Common Sense Media, 20230 min
Of Class Time on Phones
Median phone use during the school day — and 97% of students use their phone at school at least once daily.
Common Sense Media, 20230%
Of Teachers Agree
72% of U.S. high school teachers say phone distraction is a major problem in their classroom.
Pew Research Center, 20240 min
To Refocus
After a single interruption, it takes roughly 23 minutes to fully return attention to the task at hand.
Dr. Gloria Mark, UC IrvineThe Good News
What Happens When Phones Go Away
Researchers have now measured what happens after schools go phone-free — across 400+ schools in Norway, two entire regions of Spain, and dozens of schools in England. The benefits reach every student, and they’re biggest for the kids who need them most.
−0% −0%
Less Bullying: Girls · Boys
After three phone-free years in Norway, girls reported 46% less bullying — and boys 43% less.
+1 YR
Of Learning, All Students
In Spain, PISA scores rose by up to a full year’s worth of learning in math and science — and bullying fell for all teens.
+1 WK
Of School, All Students
In England, test scores rose as if a week had been added to the year — with the biggest gains for struggling students.
−0%
Mental-Health Referrals (Girls)
In Norway, girls’ visits to psychological specialists dropped by nearly 60%, and their GPAs rose.
And It’s Working Here at Home, Too
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States Restrict Phones
More than 35 states — including Wisconsin, through 2025 Act 42 — now limit phones during the school day.
0K
Students, Fewer Fights
Orange County, Florida — one of America’s largest districts — went bell-to-bell. Teachers report fewer fights and more focus; administrators call the change “remarkable.”
YR 2
Test Scores Climb
The first major U.S. study — a Florida district’s all-day ban — found fewer skipped classes and rising test scores by the second year, with the biggest gains in middle and high school.
Every student benefits — and researchers consistently find the effects are strongest for girls (whose phone time skews toward social media, the heaviest mental-health burden) and for students from lower-income families. Sources: Abrahamsson, Smartphone Bans, Student Outcomes and Mental Health, Norwegian School of Economics (2024); Beneito & Vicente-Chirivella, Banning Mobile Phones in Schools, Applied Economic Analysis (Spain); Beland & Murphy, London School of Economics (2015); NBER Working Paper 34388, The Impact of Cellphone Bans in Schools on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Florida (2025). UNESCO now recommends phone-free school days worldwide, and 74% of U.S. adults support phone-free classrooms (Pew, 2024).
The Bigger Picture
A Generation Rewired
In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt documents what happened after smartphones and social media reached nearly every adolescent between 2010 and 2015. The school day is one place we can give kids six hours of their attention back.
Teen Depression Is Up Sharply
From 2010 to 2021, depression rates rose 145% among teen girls and 161% among teen boys in the U.S. — with nearly identical patterns in the UK, Canada, and Scandinavia.
The Phone Doesn’t Even Need to Be On
A University of Texas study found that the mere presence of a phone — face down, silenced, on the desk — measurably reduces available brainpower. The brain spends energy resisting it.
Real Friendship Needs Face Time
Adolescents build social skills, confidence, and belonging through in-person interaction. Phone-free lunches and hallways give students back hundreds of hours a year of real conversation.
The Nuts and Bolts
How It Works at School
This page is the plain-language summary. The complete rules live in Board Policy 5136: Personal Communication Devices, revised June 10, 2026. And Holmen isn’t going it alone: Wisconsin 2025 Act 42 now requires every district in the state to prohibit personal devices during instructional time — our 4K–8 full-day approach goes beyond the state minimum, because the research says that’s where it matters most.
In fact, the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Safe Schools Legal Resource Manual has urged every school to adopt a written cell phone policy since well before the new law, citing phones as a source of “unwarranted disturbances in the classroom.”
When
Devices must be powered completely off — not just placed into vibrate or silent mode — during instructional time. Devices may be used before and after school, during breakfast and lunch, and at after-school activities.
Where Phones Go
Powered-off devices are stored in a dedicated cellphone caddy in each learning environment during instructional time.
Exceptions
Health care needs (like glucose monitoring), IEP and 504 accommodations, and genuine emergencies always come first — the policy protects all three. Teachers may also authorize devices for a specific lesson.
Reaching Your Student
Call the school office and we’ll get a message to your child right away — just like always.
Main Office — messages and general needs:
(608) 526-3372
Attendance & appointments — arriving late or needing to leave early:
HHS Attendance Office
hhsattendance@holmen.k12.wi.us
(608) 526-2813 ext. 6105
Health Office (Nurse) — medication or illness:
(608) 526-3372 ext. 6119
Earbuds & Smartwatches
The policy covers all personal web-enabled devices — earbuds, smartwatches, tablets, gaming devices, wearables. If it connects, it follows the same rules as a phone. School devices cover any classroom listening needs.
If the Policy Isn’t Followed
Discipline escalates with each violation:
- First violation: the device is confiscated — marked with the student’s name and held securely in the building’s central office — and the student picks it up at the end of the day. A parent or guardian is notified by email.
- Second violation: the device is confiscated — marked with the student’s name and held securely in the building’s central office — and a parent or guardian is required to pick it up.
- Third violation: the device is restricted from being on school grounds.
Have younger children in the district? Students in grades 4K–8 follow a stricter, all-day version of this policy — devices stay off and out of sight bell to bell, including lunch. Check your child’s school page for their building’s details.
Parent & Family Questions
You Asked. We Answered.
This is the question we take most seriously. School-safety experts consistently advise that during a real emergency, students are safest when their full attention is on the adults giving instructions — not on a screen. Hundreds of students calling and texting at once can also jam networks and slow emergency response.
Every Holmen classroom has communication with the office, our staff are trained in emergency response, and the district will notify families quickly through our standard alert channels. And the policy itself says it plainly: in a genuine emergency or safety threat, students may use their devices — that exception is written into Board Policy 5136.
Call the school office — the same way families did for decades. We’ll get the message to your student promptly, and for schedule changes (pickup plans, appointments), a morning call or note works great.
Just contact the office that fits your need and we’ll take it from there:
- Attendance Office — appointments, arriving late, or leaving early.
hhsattendance@holmen.k12.wi.us · (608) 526-2813 ext. 6105 - Health Office (Nurse) — medication, illness, or any health need during the day.
(608) 526-3372 ext. 6119 - Main Office — all other messages and needs.
(608) 526-3372
Medical needs always come first. Students who use a phone for health monitoring — like a continuous glucose monitor — or who have accommodations in an IEP or 504 plan will have full access. Contact your school’s office or nurse and we’ll put the plan in writing.
No. A confiscated device is labeled with your child’s name and held securely in the office until it’s released — it is not searched. This follows Wisconsin Department of Justice guidance: under Wisconsin law, students have an expectation of privacy in their phone’s contents, so a policy violation means the phone is simply held, nothing more.
School devices are managed and filtered by the district, used under teacher direction, and don’t carry personal social media, group chats, or notifications. They’re tools for schoolwork — the difference matters.
Because that’s where the research points hardest. The strongest findings — like Norway’s 46% drop in bullying and 60% drop in mental-health referrals — came from middle schools, where students are at the most vulnerable stage of social development. So our 4K–8 students get a fully phone-free day, including lunch.
High schoolers are four years from adulthood, and part of our job is teaching self-management, not just imposing it. Their classrooms are completely phone-free — devices powered off, every period — but breakfast, lunch, and before/after school are their own time to practice healthy habits.
That’s where the biggest wins are — especially around sleep. Experts recommend charging phones outside the bedroom overnight, phone-free family meals, and a written family media agreement so expectations are clear. The family resources below have ready-made tools for all of it.
Keep Learning
Resources for Families
The same research and tools our staff used — free for every Holmen family.
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The Anxious Generation
A 9-page summary of Jonathan Haidt’s bestselling book on smartphones and the rewiring of childhood. Start here.
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Be Here Campaign
Our regional partner’s campaign for presence over screens — healthy phone habits, sleep tips, and a family media agreement.
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Common Sense Media
Age-based guidance on apps, games, movies, and social media — the most trusted name in family media advice.
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Youth Toolkit
The Center for Humane Technology’s toolkit that helps teens understand how apps are engineered to capture attention.
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Healthy Screen Habits
Practical, research-backed strategies for managing screens at every age — built by pediatric professionals and parents.
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Let Grow
The independence movement: giving kids real-world freedom and responsibility — the healthy replacement for screen time.
No Buds. No Phones.
No Problems!
Thank you for partnering with us to give every Holmen student a school day full of focus, friendship, and being fully here. Questions? Contact Jill Mason, Executive Director of Student Services, at masjil@holmen.k12.wi.us, or Cory Mueller, Director of Safety and Student Services, at muecor@holmen.k12.wi.us.