High School Students Walk Out Over Cellphone Ban

Students at a high school in Texas are protesting a new cellphone ban.

Hundreds of students gathered outside James Madison High School in South Houston on Thursday, the Houston Chronicle reported. Some held signs that read "We are high school kids not cellmates!!!" and "You are not here to imprison us or confine us," according to the paper.

It was the latest demonstration at the school after a new cellphone policy, which officials said was aimed at stopping fights on campus, went into effect Monday. The policy requires all students to turn in their phones once they enter the school building. Phones are returned to students at the end of the day.

Newsweek has contacted the school district and Madison High School principal Edgar Contreras for further comment via email.

Earlier this week, students sent a letter with a list of demands to school officials, calling the ban "unconstitutional."

"There is no good reason for cellphones to be completely banned," students wrote in a letter shared on X (formerly Twitter) by the Houston Education Association-TSTA/NEA, a local education advocacy group. "Cellphones do not cause fights. Fights will continue without cellphones."

They wrote that the student handbook "explicitly states that students are entitled to their basic rights of citizenship. Taking away our phones and forcing us to pay to get them back is unconstitutional and violates our Fourth Amendment right."

In the letter, the students also demanded they be treated like students, saying the school "currently operates like a prison."

"Our personal property is confiscated as we enter the building and returned once we are released, as if we are serving a prison sentence and released after completing our punishment," they wrote.

"We are escorted to our lunch in a single straight line with police officers in the building as if we are dangerous criminals," the letter continues. "We are students. We have done nothing wrong. We have protested, spoken up, and retaliated against oppressive policies. This does not justify any of the action that the school and district has taken to silence, control, and punish us."

Thursday's protest came after school officials said on Instagram on Thursday that students must enter the school building by grade.

Students have said their walkouts are about more than just the new cellphone policy.

Kennedie Simms, a senior, told the Chronicle that they are aimed at improving the culture at the school. "We don't have pep rallies, we don't have field trips, we don't have anything," she said. "We feel unheard. We are humans at the end of the day."

Parents expressed concerns about not being able to contact their children in an emergency because of the cellphone ban.

"It's a safety thing," Anthony McDonald told the Chronicle. "I bought my kid's phone because my daughter has asthma, and I said if something goes wrong, I don't want five different teachers calling me saying something happened to my daughter. She needs to call me."

"Students at Madison High School must turn their phones in when they arrive at school. Phones are then returned to them at their last period," a spokesperson for the Houston Independent School District (HISD) told Newsweek in a statement.

It continued: "Madison students do not have the privilege of using their phones during lunch. That is because cellphone video has been at the center of multiple recent fights on campus. This, obviously, endangers the safety of Madison students and staff and disrupts the learning environment. Neither is acceptable. HISD will continue working to ensure our students and staff have the safe and productive learning environment they deserve at school, every day."

However, students at other schools in the district are allowed to keep cellphones in their backpacks during class.

"HISD's policy states that students are not allowed to use their cellphones in the school building," the statement said. "Cellphones cannot be visible unless they are in a mesh or see-through backpack. Phones are to be kept in a backpack or turned in to the school once the student enters the building or at the start of first period."

The statement added, "If approved by the Division Superintendent, high school students may use a cellphone in the cafeteria or eating area at lunch only."

Update 2/9/24, 9:25 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with the full statement from the Houston Independent School District.