DES MOINES, Iowa — Hoover High School in Des Moines reports its students' average grades and attendance have increased since last year. And the school says its new cell phone policy is a large part of the success.
Devices are required to be stowed away in students' backpacks when inside the classroom to ensure attentiveness.
The school says Hoover students are doing what it envisioned: interacting with one another instead of being on their phones.
"This has always been about Gen Z and their mental health," explained Hoover principal Qynne Kelly. "That has always been what this is about."
Later this month, Ankeny Community School District will implement its own cell phone restriction policy which bans phones, smart-watches and wireless earbuds from class, lunch and passing periods.
It's more restrictive than Hoover's, but Principal Kelly said the policies take students a bit to get used to, and that results will show up.
"We're with them for eight hours a day as a school. So why not us? But not alone, right? We have to do this with partners, with parents," Kelly told Local 5 on Monday.
She mentioned student attendance at Hoover has jumped from 77% last year to 85% so far this year, and student performance in class has also risen multiple percentage points.
Kelly also said she didn't expect the school's cell phone restrictions to lead students to read more, but added that more library books have been checked out in the six weeks since the new policy began than the past two and a half years she has been the school's principal.